First Five Marketing

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First Five Marketing

Fuelling change through the culture of Sport.
•Defining brand strategy & purpose
•Athlete & Sports marketing
•Enablement & participation growth

06/11/2026

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Funny how we can always find money for sport when there’s a wealthy adult willing to pay for it.

But when it comes to giving kids somewhere affordable to play?

Suddenly everyone’s skint.

I’ve got nothing against padel. I’ve got plenty against a sporting system that seems better at spotting profit than recognising social value.

Perhaps we should be investing in the kids who need sport most, rather than the adults who can afford it most?

I’ve written more about this on LinkedIn. Particularly keen for anyone controlling sports funding or facilities to have a read ✍️

04/11/2026

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Imagine spending your whole career building a reputation, only to let someone else decide what it looks like.

Your club wants you professional. Your agent wants you marketable. Everyone wants you saying the right things.

Before you know it, you’ve got the personality of a corporate press release.

And apparently that’s your personal brand now? 🤷

02/11/2026

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Your sporting career has an expiry date. Your value doesn’t have to.

Most athletes spend years becoming exceptionally good at something, then risk leaving behind much of what they’ve built when they stop competing.

The knowledge. The relationships. The reputation. The experience. The ability to inspire or influence others.

All potentially valuable. None automatically worth a penny.

And you don’t need to wait until retirement to start figuring that out.

If your sport disappeared tomorrow, what would people still come to you for?

29/10/2026

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Having a massive audience doesn’t mean you’ve earned the right to make money from it.

Perhaps those people don’t want another club demanding their attention or money.

Perhaps there’s something much more valuable you could offer them first.

If you’re running a club, league or federation, ask yourself:

“What could we help these people do together that they couldn’t easily do without us?”

28/10/2026

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Winning gets you noticed. But it doesn’t automatically make you commercially valuable.

Brands don’t invest in athletes just because they’re good at their sport.

Your results might open the door, but your reputation, personality, audience, expertise and the connections you build give people more reasons to walk through it.

Train to win your sport.

Build your brand to make more of the career you’re working so hard for.

26/10/2026

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Your fans might love your club.

𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗯 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀.

The biggest sports brands figured out how to turn that loyalty into something commercially useful.

And no, the answer wasn’t simply more followers, more sponsors or flogging another bloody replica shirt.

The All Blacks. Liverpool. The Yankees. Athletic Bilbao. The Springboks.

𝗗𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘀. 𝗦𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗲𝘀.

𝗦𝗶𝘅 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴.

Swipe through >>>

22/10/2026

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⚠️ Pay attention Athletes, your next result might get you noticed…

…But what are you giving people to care about between results?

You can’t control whether you win every weekend. You can control whether people have a reason to follow you when you don’t.

Build a brand that makes more of your career commercially valuable, not one that needs you to win every bloody time.

21/10/2026

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If you stopped competing tomorrow, what would you have left to sell?

Because there are brands paying athletes who aren’t winning medals, breaking records or collecting millions of followers.

And there are bloody brilliant athletes who can’t get a sponsor to return an email.

Ever wondered why?

I’ve put together five things worth understanding before you send another sponsorship pitch.

Swipe through. You might be sitting on more commercial value than you realise 👉🏻

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