- Health and wellness brand GNC will appear in an episode of Team Whistle’s “No Days Off” YouTube series, Marketing Dive can exclusively share. The partnership with the sports and entertainment company is timed to March Madness.
- The episode premiering March 13 features college basketball star Armando Bacot, forward for the North Carolina Tar Heels, promoting GNC’s Pro Performance products as a part of his post-workout routine.
- Snackable social segments spanning TikTok, Instagram and Facebook Reels, Snapchat and YouTube Shorts help promote the content. The move makes GNC certainly one of the newest brands to collaborate with Team Whistle in hopes of tapping into sports hype.
Just in time for the March Madness basketball tournament, GNC is asserting itself because the go-to brand for sports nutrition via a tie-up with Team Whistle. Other marketers have sought to align themselves with the marquee college sporting event this month, including Marriott Bonvoy and the recently launched Gatorade Water.
GNC featuring in “No Days Off,” a series that has amassed 7.1 billion lifetime global views, could help the marketer reach each athletes and sports fans alike and up its possibilities of connecting with digitally driven consumers. The March 13 episode starring North Carolina Tar Heels’ Bacot will follow the athlete as he heads to the gym to coach while showcasing GNC’s Pro Performance offerings. The content is supposed to portray GNC’s products as an enhancement to the everyday lives of athletes, no matter their sport or skill level, Lauren Mannetti, GNC’s vp of promoting, explained in a press release.
Additional content on social media featuring Bacot will round out the collaboration. In one segment, “My Top Five,” the athlete promotes GNC while detailing the highest five products he swears by to assist reach his every day protein goals. Another segment, “Day within the Life,” sees Bacot detailing his day while educating viewers on how products from GNC help optimize his performance.
“Whistle’s expertise is to create social content that resonates in culture around big tentpole moments like March Madness,” said Hanna Work, director of brand name partnerships at Team Whistle, in a press release shared with Marketing Dive. “We concentrate on naturally connecting brands with relevant talent, like Armando Bacot, while naturally weaving of their core product and messaging throughout our storylines.”
Team Whistle, a DAZN Group company, has partnered with other marketers beyond GNC. In January, the corporate worked with dishwasher detergent brand Finish for two culinary face-off episodes of its “Home Team” series ahead of Super Bowl LVIII. In December, Team Whistle partnered with State Farm, also around its “Home Team” series, to advertise the insurance company’s Personal Price Plan. The company also collaborated with DirecTV Stream for a social media takeover ahead of football season.
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