Irish firm Sport Endorse finding perfect match for stars and brands

Trevor Twamley, co-founder of Sport Endorse

Success has visited various Irish sports across 2021, but an ever-growing company from these shores has been a winner in all of them.

Sport Endorse has created an online marketplace for athletes and brands to match up and broker commercial deals.

Launched in October 2020, the app has attracted 1,350 athletes and 350 brands interested in hooking up, with steady growth of 20% a month.

From Irish defender John Egan to rugby international James Lowe, and GAA stars Dean Rock and Kieran McGeary, the firm has a gallery of names across its 60-sport roster — and that’s before the international reach of Champions League footballers and NBA All-Stars are encompassed into this bona fide global venture.

Founded by Trevor Twamley and Declan Bourke, they prefer to liken their core business to a supermarket rather than ‘Tinder for athletes’, but the odd diversion, such as clients Nicolas Roche and Nina Carberry being snapped up for the upcoming Dancing with Stars, underlines the breadth of their linkages.

The process is simple. Prospective athletes just register their profile through the app, outlining their passions. They are encouraged to be interactive with their pitch, like recording a video of themselves.

On the other side of the fence are companies seeking sporting personnel to promote brands through various means, from ambassadorial roles to apparel contracts or photo shoots. Those opportunities are posted on to the platform, detailing the commitment required and payment, and inviting athletes to claim the portfolio.

What it isn’t is an auction house — only the vendor can see which clients have recorded their interest and they make the decision based on who best suits their image.

A case in point during 2021 was the Specsavers online ad in the run-up to the All-Ireland final between Tyrone and Mayo in September.

Sponsors of Hawk-Eye, the company sought a player from each team to partake in a video call with youngsters quizzing them as journalists. Neither Lee Keegan nor Frank Burns had to leave their house for the gig and the three-minute production has so far yielded 300,000 views.

They are just two of more than 200 inter-county GAA players, male and female, to have used the platform for commercial income. Twamley views it as an untapped market, still very much in its infancy.

“If players from other field sports are making money, why shouldn’t GAA players, who have massive public interest in them and who play in front of huge crowds?” he said. “They might not know where to start, so we’re providing the user-friendly infrastructure for them to connect with brands. Seven of Tyrone’s All-Ireland-winning squad have joined the platform, but we probably have every county represented.”

Social media profiles are the main selling point for many. Research has shown that 35% of Twitter and Instagram followers like, share, or retweet an athlete’s message, making them appealing for a company to align with.

“GAA players get huge engagement from their social media profiles,” explained Twamley. “Our brands vary in scale, carrying different budgets.

“What we’ve noticed over the past year is the heightened interest in female athletes, which now accounts for almost 40% of new transactions. They are great storytellers and our software is geared towards conveying their message.

“We were delighted to help household names secure large endorsement deals, but just as pleasing is supplying minority sports stars, reliant on self-financing, with a gateway to the business community.”

Business is business and Sports Endorse isn’t surviving on fresh air. Although registration is free for athletes and brands, a commission is charged on all deals.

“The industry standard is 20%, yet ours is on a scale from 12 to a maximum of 16,” said Twamley. “Technology makes business easier and cheaper for everyone. It cuts out a lot of the layers. Why make six calls to clinch a deal when it can be achieved virtually? That’s our business model and it’s worked better than any of us could have predicted.”

While the app has provided Sport Endorse with the platform, it has other strands to its operation. Soccer is an area it considers fertile ground, helped by the addition of Egan. Twamley is one of only eight agents, these days known as intermediaries, fully licensed by the FAI. He’s on the English FA’s accredited list too.

Garrett Kelleher has just retained the company to coordinate St Patrick’s Athletic’s commercial campaign.

On the international stage, Sport Endorse has acted as consultant on contract talks for Idrissa Gueye, while his PSG team-mates Presnel Kimpembe and Juan Bernat have entrusted it with dealings for image rights. Ditto Karim Benzema.

Traffic in cyberspace seldom sleeps. Twamley is in his beloved Kingdom on a break, but spent yesterday discussing their upcoming workload with Bourke in Dublin, Manav Bhatia in Mumbai, and Toronto-based Alex Raransky.

Two US-based talents to express an interest in signing up over Christmas had a familiar name — Shaquille O’Neal’s basketball-playing sons Shareef and Shaqir O’Neal.

“We must be doing something right,” Twamley quipped.