Should You Sell Retroactive Collab Posts?

?? Welcome back to Sponcon Sports, a weekly newsletter dedicated to sponsored content strategy in the sports industry!

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In Today’s Edition:

• Reotractive Collab Sales Strategy ??
• World’s 1st Ownable Sports Zoom Art ???
• A Pawfect Padres Sponsored Post ??

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??? DEEP DIVE

How To Monetize Retroactive Collab Posts

Instagram collab posts have become even more powerful since our discussion two months ago on when and how to sell them.

Until recently, they had one major limitation: you could only invite collaborators during the initial posting.

Whether you forgot to invite your brand partner or there was a delay in their acceptance, this limitation caused many headaches.

Last month, Instagram removed this limitation for Reels. A few days ago, [Head of Instagram] Adam Mosseri acknowledged that this capability could soon extend to in-feed posts and carousels.

With this update on the horizon, it raises an interesting question: should you consider selling retroactive Instagram collab posts?

What Are Brands Buying?

These are published, unsponsored posts that prominently feature your partner’s branding.

This is most likely to occur with a brand that’s purchased signage, a jersey sponsorship, or a manufacturer of players’ jerseys and gear (e.g. Oakley, Nike, etc).

Your brand partners would be paying for the right to add them as collaborators of a post—no further integration.

Is This In The Spirit Of Good Partnership?

From the team’s side, it allows you to monetize otherwise unsponsored content in just a few steps.

But, are we just getting greedy here?

Brands pay for in-venue signage and jersey sponsorships to gain earned exposure from those placements—especially now, with tools like Blinkfire Analytics, Inc. and Zoomph to measure it.

That said, retroactive collaborations offer your partners the ability to capitalize on earned placements in real-time through:

• Enhanced exposure of their Instagram account to your audience, potentially increasing their follower count.
• A stronger, more direct connection to the team rather than just a copy, image, or paid partnership tag.
• The ability to highlight a sports or athlete sponsorship without needing new creative.
• Opportunities to repurpose historical content from team accounts that celebrate great moments they were part of.

So why not just offer this for free in the spirit of good partnership?

It’s a slippery slope.

Once it’s done for one partner, every brand and partnership activation representative (rightfully so) will want to try it out. The result? Your content teams will be flooded with requests for collabs, distracting them from their core work.

If we’re going to try this tactic, partners need to pay for it so we can establish rules and guidelines to make it work seamlessly.

What Needs To Be Done BEFORE You Start

First, we need to define and align on what is considered “prominent branding.” This is where your sponsorship measurement tool will be incredibly helpful.

They all have a way of highlighting the strength of a brand partner’s inclusion in content. For example, you could base it on Zoomph’s logo clarity percentage or Blinkfire’s visibility by device.

Establishing this benchmark has two key benefits:

1. It allows your team to automate the process and have your sponsorship measurement tool identify which posts should be considered for a retroactive collaboration. This solves a key bandwidth issue since most teams don’t have the staffing to identify these opportunities in real time.
2. It reduces the back and forth between the team and the partner when it comes to agreeing on whether a post is worthy of a retroactive collaboration. Speed is important if you’re trying to activate a collab soon after the post goes live.

Why does speed matter?

The easier it is to activate, the more likely your content team will be on board with offering this new monetization tactic. More importantly, it changes the strategy of how to maximize a retroactive collaboration.

Most of your views and engagement will come in the first 24 to 48 hours after a post is published. If you can activate a retroactive collaboration within that window, you can bring your brand partner along for the ride of that distribution.

This window is longer for Reels compared to in-feed posts and carousels. That said, Instagram’s use of suggested posts for original content has extended the distribution of in-feed content.

Even if you miss that initial distribution window, it’s okay. You can build in a budget to boost the post and get a second chance at reaching the team’s audience.

Other Considerations

There are three other factors to consider before activating retroactive collaborations:

• Implied Endorsement: Speak with your legal team to learn how a post can be misconstrued as the implied endorsement of a player.
• Third Party Collabs: Once you collaborate with a third party you cannot offer a retroactive collaboration unless you have mutual brand partners.
• Active Brand Campaign: A collab post could interrupt an active campaign on your brand partner’s page. For example, what if the New York Mets invited McDonald’s to collaborate on a post that featured Grimace during their recent win streak, but their Special Grade Garlic Sauce campaign was actively rolling out? You may need to complete the collab later - and the good news is, now you can.

How Should This New Offering Be Structured?

Retroactive collaborations should be sold as a paid media bank, with a twist.

It ensures a budget is set aside if you want to boost a retroactive collaboration that falls outside the initial distribution window. To avoid hitting the same audience who saw the post the first time, you can even exclude a custom audience of people who already engaged with, or viewed the post.

This approach also allows your partners to distribute content to your audience outside of collab posts if there are fewer opportunities than expected or if they find a campaign they want to support through your team’s channels via paid media.

Having that flexibility reduces the risk of needing make goods because you’re not required to activate a retroactive collaboration. It also eases the stress when the team and brand partner cannot agree on whether a post should include a collaboration.

While there would be no minimum number of retroactive collaborations, we do need to set a maximum. Based on the brand prominence benchmark discussed earlier, your sponsorship measurement partner should help you identify the average number of retroactive collaboration opportunities your brand partner will likely have, based on past seasons.

For example, a contract should state, “the paid media bank allows your brand to activate up to 12 retroactive collaborations on Instagram per year.” It’s important to specify "per year" rather than "per season" since your brand partner may want to repurpose older content during your team’s offseason.

How Much Should You Charge?

Two factors come into play for the price of this asset:

1. Profit Margin: Given we’re framing this opportunity as a modified paid media bank, you should aim for a 50% profit margin.
2. Price Floor: Based on the number of retroactive collaborations you’re offering, you’ll need to establish a price floor that ensures enough budget to hit an impressions/views target. This also accounts for the opportunity cost of all the backend work your team needs to do during activation.

While this approach can benefit brand partners by enhancing exposure and engagement, teams must ensure clear guidelines and proper pricing to manage demand and maintain quality.

Schedule a call with me to talk about sponsored content strategy and get personalized feedback on past, current, or future campaigns. Slots are open through July 31st!

?? SPONCONSPIRATION

Steal These Ideas

Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Team partnered with Sim-Lab BV to create an official sim racing steering wheel including the infamous WhatsApp call button.

Manchester City Football Club , Greg Edwards (@gregcicle ), and ArtSport Collective collaborated to create the world’s-first ownable zoom sports art . More details about the collab here via Joe Farren .

While Cameron Brink recovers from a torn ACL, she took her talents to the boardroom in partnership with LegalZoom .

NASCAR Insiders Roundtable sponsored by 固特异 dropped the first episode of its Generations series on Monday.

Cool to see the PGA TOUR roll out COBRA PUMA GOLF -sponsored content with one of the brand’s golfers, Gary Woodland.

The caption from Daniel Ricciardo ’s GoPro sponcon is perfect.

Speaking of great copywriting , Sporting Kansas City nailed it with the name of this Great Clips Inc. content series.

CF Montréal 's collaboration with Harry Rosen might be one of the only North American partnerships that includes gameday outfit sponsorship for the entire team, a common practice overseas.

This piece from the San Diego Padres and Petco is likely the cutest sponcon you'll see all week—and a fantastic way to showcase the fan experience at Petco Park.

?? ICYMI

What To Watch For

Use AI For Better Pitches : JohnWallStreet just kicked off a series on AI-powered solutions, and the first edition is a must-read. In it, Shripal Shah shares how you can boost sponsorship sales conversion rates and attract new partners using generative AI.

Fox Sports’ TikTok Strategy : The Caitlin Clark Cam (Sponsored Content of the Week - 2/8) was just the beginning. FOX Sports is taking a dual approach to studio shows, highlighted during the Euros and Copa America, tailoring them for both widescreen and vertical formats.

Must Watch : You need to register (it’s free!) for episode two of Social Podium featuring an amazing sports industry panel with Andi Perelman , Dan LaTorraca , Tyler Beadlescomb , and Shahbaz Khan . The session goes live on July 25th at 10 AM ET.

TikTok Creator Research : TikTok added a new feature for researching creator content and audience engagement. You can now sort an account's TikTok videos by 'Popularity' on desktop. This is also a great tool for researching your (and your partners’) competitors for new sponsored content ideas [h/t Matt Navarra ].

Catch The Referee : As the official credit card of Ecuadorian soccer, Discover placed QR codes on referees, giving fans a chance to win cashback when scanned [h/t Dawid Prokopowicz ].

?? BEFORE YOU GO

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