With Black Friday less than 4 days away and Amazon building the Super Bowl of shopping with their Black Friday game, there's some interesting components to decode with sponsorships & endorsements:

📉 Over the last 5 years, rights-holders having a retail sponsor has decreased by close to 10% as both the sector has seen growth challenges combined with greater optionality in terms of where to spend their ad dollars.

🏟️ Sports teams and leagues still drive a large amount of retail deals, due to their proximity to the point of sale (e.g. tickets, merchandise, apparel) and their ability to drive foot and digital traffic through promotions and IP rights.

📲 The rise of the influencer is revolutionizing the way products meet people. Platforms like TikTok are becoming e-commerce hubs to compete with Amazon and people are fuel that drives it all: They wield the power to turn viewers into buyers, with a simple swipe-up or promo code. As retail dives deeper into digital, influencers are the new-age salesforce.