Angel Reese offers playbook on how athletes and brands can capitalize on authentic off-court experiences for Gen Z

“At this point, Angel Reese is as much of a socialite as she is a basketball player,” writes Marie Claire’s Ariel Baker in an article singing the 23-year-old’s praises, lauding Reese’s iconic French twist while sitting front-row at a Chanel show in NYC while effusing about being “obsessed with her duality.”

Despite the juicy storylines dominating the WNBA offseason, Reese remains a conversation-starter on her own. Never one to isolate her interests to hoops, she has her finger on the pop culture pulse, leading iconic 2000s brands like Juicy Couture, Reebok Basketball, and Wicked to engage Reese to help win over Gen Z and Gen Alpha girlies and nostalgic millennials.

• Reese has mastered this “crossover,” embracing the multifaceted elements of her life on and off the court and cementing her cultural staying power through the social media persona she cultivated in college.

Why do fans love Reese? Because she has been unapologetically Angel, her words and actions reinforcing her authenticity on and off the court. Clearly, it resonates — she has more social media followers than any other WNBA player, and she’s tied with NY Liberty vet Breanna Stewart for brand deals, a stunning feat for a second-year pro.

Once the nation’s No. 2 recruit for her hometown Maryland Terrapins, Reese spent her first two NCAA seasons in College Park. But in the early NIL era, Reese sought a transfer to take advantage of the bigger spotlight and elite talent LSU offered. The increased exposure of LSU Athletics’ brand converged with the broader marketing and content explosion of influencers and creators, pushing Reese into the public eye.

After transferring in 2022, Reese used her basketball spotlight to showcase her glam aesthetic, racking up NIL deals and followers. She became the “Bayou Barbie,” powering LSU to the 2023 national championship with flair and reaching followers beyond basketball.

Since graduating and becoming the Chicago Sky’s first-round draft pick, Reese has doubled down on her basketball brand bonafides. Reebok tapped her to lead its relaunch into hoops, promising her a signature line while still in college. Eventually, her signature shoe was unveiled on Reese’s NBA 2K cover and sold out in all colorways within hours.

But Reese’s brand beyond hoops lives in the fashion and lifestyle space. She declared for the draft in Vogue. She jetted from Chicago to NYC on her birthday to attend the Met Gala. She made history walking in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. And a look at her social media reveals far more fashion-forward posts than pics of her sweating it out on the hardwood.

Reese only works with brands she uses, cultivating trust with audiences as a high-fashion tastemaker and face of consumer products. Her playbook of authenticity means she’s relatable and aspirational.

• She’s the kind of woman who uses Mielle Organics, Beats by Dre, Coach, and Airbnb. She’d eat at McDonald’s and Wingstop, and she’s also sitting front row at Chanel. Because she’s the fashion-conscious consumer brands are targeting, she’s also the ideal ambassador.

• That’s why her estimated NIL earnings leapt from $371K before the 2023 NCAA championship to $1.3M afterward; her follower count surging from 1.1M in April 2023 to over 4M after the Sky drafted her in April.

More recently, Reese has registered trademarks for her name and nicknames, a winning brand-building play.

• When Reese went pro, so did her brand. Bayou Barbie became Chi-Town Barbie, and then Barbie officially entered the chat. She’s even capitalized on “Mebounds,” embracing a fan joke poking fun at her “padded stats” to turn it into profit.

We’ve seen women athletes build brands staked on their play and parlay them into something bigger, like tennis legend Serena Williams. But Reese’s athletic performance isn’t just what sells. It’s her duality as an athlete/influencer and an everyday woman.

In a recent Stagwell profile, reporter Jason Notte offered some takeaways for marketers looking to learn from Reese’s wins, including “a business mindset grounded in vision, authenticity, and scale.”

• Reebok’s head of basketball Jide Osifeso also told Notte that Reese challenged the brand to “think differently” about what a women’s signature clothing line could be.

• In our recent conversation with Candace Parker, she discussed the value of having an athlete’s insight into business operations — and Reese has shown that her business instincts and fresh fashion can turn into major wins for brands.

Reese has created a business and branding playbook for younger stars to follow in the NIL era. Early adherents include USC’s JuJu Watkins, who’s leveraging her on-court play into cultural relevance with her OffBall investment; Reese’s former teammate, Flau’jae Johnson, who’s balancing hoops with a music career and plenty of NIL deals; and Iowa State’s Jada Williams.

In 2022 — the same year Reese transferred to LSU — Williams and her mom moved from Kansas City, Missouri, to San Diego, California, for more NIL opportunities. But Williams wasn’t even in college: California allows high schoolers to ink NIL deals.

• At 17, Williams was earning six figures from endorsements. These days, she’s pulling deals with partners like Hollister, another Y2K brand looking to win over Gen Z.

A glance through Williams’ Instagram shows her own take on Reese’s formula: There’s a mix of in-game highlights between heartfelt posts with friends and family, as well as plenty of Instagram-worthy ’fit pics. Across Instagram and TikTok, Williams has over 1M followers.

Reese and her cohort have shown that once an athlete breaks through and wins over an authentic, engaged audience, the brands will follow. Nothing sugarcoated; just be different — words to live by.