2023 marked a profitable year for women’s sports in sponsorships, brand deals, and TV broadcast partnerships. Along with 2023 being a FIFA Women’s World Cup year, some of the other major women’s sporting events included the US Open, NWSL Championship, WNBA Finals, NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, and more. 2023 was a year of broken records and major strides in the growth of women’s sports.

As sponsorship spend continues to grow year over year, brands and agencies are shelling out more dollars and can’t always explain where the money is going and how it’s benefitting the brand. Brands and agencies should be able to answer the question “if you had one more dollar to spend, what team, league, market, asset, etc. are you going to put it towards to return the greatest value?” without hesitation.

Budgets continue to get slashed on the brand side and re-prioritized to areas that can prove value and impact. This has had a substantial impact on the sponsorship industry, which continues to struggle to get out of its own way.

Sponsorship reporting in the sports industry has typically been limited to TV broadcasts and social media – but, sponsorship portfolios encompass much more than that. Frequently, teams are leaving money on the table when reporting solely on social media and TV broadcasts – radio is a great example of that.

For nearly two years now, college athletes have been allowed to profit off their name, image, and likeness - otherwise known as NIL. This has proved to be quite valuable for both brands and athletes. Take a look at how top brands are receiving hundreds of thousands of dollars in value from their NIL deals.

The San Diego Padres were the first team to sign a jersey patch sponsorship deal and they did so with the telecommunications company, Motorola. We can already see that the simplicity and recognizable ‘M’ logo of Motorola will reap strong returns as a sleeve patch.

Take a look at the two activations going into our 2022 Sponsorship Madness championship and see why these two seemingly different activations are both proven to be value goldmines.

What’s in a team’s nickname, really? Why do we care so much about what our local pro squad is called? 

An inside look at the roster of our team diving into our backgrounds and expertise in the sports industry. Spoiler: we say “we’ve been there before”, here’s why.

2021 was a year to remember at Trajektory. Through the excitement of new clients, new dashboards, and new teammates, and the challenges of defining algorithms and late nights, we persevered to put together our most successful year yet. To put the last year into perspective, we will do what Trajektory knows best — present the numbers. Below are some of the highlights that we are most proud of.

In order to fully embrace and prepare for the opportunities to come in 2022, we must look back at the noteworthy trends, developments, and events that transpired throughout 2021. Here are some of our favorite trends and developments from 2021.

Data Storytelling. It’s a buzzword used a lot. But what is it, actually? Data storytelling has been connected with research, visualizations, reports, and infographics. While it can be seen as just visualizing information, it is more than creating graphs and charts. It requires laying out the data, finding the story, pairing the correct pieces, and providing a visually compelling, easy-to-read report.

It’s Effective Communication month and it’s a great reminder that communication is everything. Communication is the core of why Trajektory exists. We created this company so organizations could have better relationships and more valuable and open dialogue with their partners.