Sports & Entertainment Beat

• • With celebrities continuing to pad their bank accounts through endorsement deals, some questions remain: What makes them an icon? Is it their initial rise to fame or their brand? (See the Roger Federer story below)
  • And a follow-up question: Do the celebrities make the brands or do the brands make the celebrity, and just how much influence do they have? For instance, can Kevin Durant’s new partnership with cannabis marketplace Weedmap destigmatize marijuana like the Kardashians did for CBD? This could help vindicate Sha'Carri Richardson after her Olympic dreams were dashed.
  • Speaking of brands, what do Beyoncé, Jay-Z, Tiffany & Co. and Basquiat have in common? Well, they share an ad and a controversy. The power couple recently unveiled their ownership of the late artist's painting in an ad for Tiffany & Co. Social media has been questioning as to how the notoriously anti-capitalism Basquiat would weigh in on this choice.
  • Finally, "I think we'll need a bigger boat" (or bandwagon that is) as the NFT craze continues adding names like Visa, eSports, and the late, great Kobe. But with all the hype, the hackers are circling the waters.

As a friendly reminder, if there are topics you’d like to see featured, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com.

• • Beyoncé’s announcement of building a hemp farm (together with a honey farm) brings the perceived health benefits of CBD even further into the mainstream. Could this momentum ultimately lead to positive conversations around the FDA approving the cannabis-derived compound as legal?
  • Scarlett Johansson’s escalating fight between her and Marvel Studios and Disney about the release of “Black Widow” highlights the issue that needs to be addressed sooner rather than later between studios and talent: how to compensate star and filmmakers fairly as more movies are being shown increasingly on major streaming platforms?
  • The world of NIL continues to turn rapidly, as even prep athletes such as quarterback Quinn Ewers of Southlake, Texas, is leaving high school early to enroll in Ohio State to pursue his football career and potentially rake in thousands of dollars in endorsement deals.
  • The dismissal of a copyright suit against 2 Chainz, Offset and UMG Recordings Inc. in a Manhattan federal court over the use of lyrics, “I’m tryna make my momma proud,” goes to show that copyright law doesn’t protect general ideas and themes.
    
    

• • As the pandemic continues, the question arises: Could celebrities be the key to getting the country vaccinated?
  • Seemingly everyone is coming up a winner in the music business with the top three major companies bringing in record amounts and streaming services are booming.
  • The NFT craze continues to grow with everyone from star athletes and sports leagues to fashion brands and now IBM jumping on the bandwagon.

Some of this week's highlights include:

• • Emerging trends are showing signs of change in the sponsorships and endorsement markets. A segment once largely overlooked, athletes in the LGBTQ+ community are finally ringing in the big endorsement deals. Female athletes are also being wooed by smaller, up-and-coming brands that are willing to be more flexible with the individuals' needs and preferences, including increased involvement with new product development and opportunities for equity in the business.
  • NFTs continue to boom – but is it just a fad? Perhaps not so, as Coca-Cola, MasterCard, NARS Cosmetics and more celebrities continue to jump on the bandwagon. And did we mention that NFTs literally rocketed out of this world?
  • While the Tokyo Olympics is projected to lose record amounts of money, two Hollywood starlets, Reese Witherspoon and Jennifer Garner, are seeing green after each signing big production and film deals.

As a friendly reminder, if there are topics you’d like to see featured, please feel free to contact me at josh.bloomgarden@foster.com.