When the Atlanta Dream and Money App introduced they had been erasing $10 million in debt for 3,500 households, it wasn’t merely a stunt. Athlete-led partnerships are rising as a drive for cultural change — and model fairness.

The initiative, created with the WNBA staff and nonprofit ForgiveCo, underscored what panelists at ADWEEK’S Brandweek 2025 known as the brand new playbook for athlete-brand collaborations: one rooted in belief, shared values, and measurable neighborhood influence.

For the Atlanta Dream, that meant beginning near house by figuring out what Atlantans had been scuffling with.

“We discovered there was a faculty lunch deficit [in Atlanta], and began to attach some dots, and [realized] there’s a substantial quantity of debt on this metropolis that we might help to fight,” mentioned Shayne Odum, director of partnerships and gross sales on the Atlanta Dream.

“[Cash App] was on the jersey, within the commercials — the entire conventional branding components had been there. However then whenever you step outdoors of it and meet us locally, the place individuals can see it, really feel it, contact it, and expertise it, then it brings all of it collectively.” 

That emphasis on cultural alignment echoed throughout the panel, which featured Odum; Connor Thompson, Reebok’s senior supervisor of Power and U.S wholesale, and Atlanta Dream participant Nazahrah “Naz” Hillmon. 

Entrepreneurs are more and more recognizing that athlete offers can’t simply commerce on fame — they must mirror shared goal. As manufacturers like Reebok and Money App take cues from how athletes present up of their communities, the ROI is shifting from impressions to influence. As an alternative of chasing visibility, firms are specializing in collaborations that construct credibility, the place athletes act as neighborhood companions and cultural amplifiers, not simply spokespeople.

“I’m by no means going to place my identify on one thing that I don’t actually imagine in or doesn’t symbolize me or my model or my enterprise,” mentioned Hillmon. “When it’s extra of a collaboration [with a brand], it feels extra long run.”

The WNBA and its gamers additionally gained ADWEEK’s Brand Genius award this year, recognizing their affect on how manufacturers join with tradition.

Wasserman numbers show growing viewership but low on-court reward, while Aflac, Ally, and Samsung chip in for players without fouling league relations.