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Campaign Imminent: USC Women's Athletics teams up with Black Girl Sunscreen

University of Southern California (USC) Athletic just announced a new partnership with Black Girl Sunscreen, an effort designed to expand the conversation about sun safety for student-athletes. The sponsorship is focused on the USC women's track and field team, and it's reportedly the first corporate sponsorship in the USA dedicated specifically to a collegiate women's track and field program. Keep an eye out for work supporting the effort.

According to iSpot, USC has allocated roughly $59k toward national TV commercials YTD, targeting viewers of College Basketball and Women's College Basketball. This amount is down 12% from the roughly $67.2k that the University had allocated by this point last year. USC ended up allocating roughly $207.4k toward this channel in 2021, down 40% from the roughly $344.7k it allocated in 2020.

So far this year, Pathmatics reports the University has spent approximately $810.9k on digital ads, 69% more than the approximately $480.6k it spent within the same 2021 timeframe. In 2021, USC's estimated full-year spend dropped 24% to $2.8m from that of $3.7m in 2020. The University has earned around 93.2m digital impressions YTD via Facebook (42%), Instagram (23%), desktop display (19%), Twitter (8%) and mobile display (8%) ads.

Additionally, Magellan shows USC has aired 31 podcast ads within the past 12 months.

As you can tell, the University's TV spend is dropping while its digital spend risings. This, along with USC's reliance on paid social and podcast ads, leads me to believe it's especially targeting Gen-Z and millennials. It also targets high schoolers looking for college options. I expect USC also advertises locally in and around SoCal. Per Kantar data, the University also invests in radio, OOH, print and local broadcast, and overall spend in these channels is on the rise, leading me to believe it's also targeting Gen-X via traditional channels. Though this effort is for the USC's women's athletics group, most sports fans are still male.

USC will probably continue establishing partnerships like this one; this effort positions the University as culturally aware, supportive of Black-owned businesses, and, therefore, safe for students of all melanin levels. 

Agency & martech readers - I don't see any major signs of upcoming agency reviews right now, but you might be able to secure project-based work down the road. Winmo states USC has an in-house media team yet also works with media buying and planning AOR Lagrant Communications (multicultural).