Prime’s UFC deal proves influencer businesses can go big
Prime’s UFC deal proves influencer businesses can go big
The Future. The UFC has just signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with Prime, the sports drink label owned by YouTubers Logan Paul and KSI. The brand’s rapid success (raking in $250 million in retail sales last year) demonstrates the growing power of influencer marketing, and suggests that some influencers may have what it takes to build businesses that can compete with major industry players.
Prime time
Bloomberg recently covered Prime’s meteoric rise and UFC deal.
- Prime will be advertised on the UFC’s MMA broadcasts, including pay-per-view and the Fight Night events streamed on ESPN+, as well as in the fighting arena.
- For their part, Logan Paul and KSI will push Prime’s products on their social media accounts, which command over 400 million followers combined.
- Everything on Prime’s online store is currently sold out. The company’s products are pretty much impossible to find in Europe, and resellers have even started flipping the drinks on e-commerce platforms.
This deal will replace the UFC’s 5-year deal with Coca-Cola’s BodyArmor sports drink, which recently ended.
Force of personality
Prime’s ambitions go beyond this deal. The label hopes to break $1 billion in retail sales and to strike even more sports sponsorships in the coming year.
That’s a reasonable goal for a brand that’s already competing with the likes of Coca-Cola. If Paul and KSI can build a competitive sports drink company in just over a year, what’s stopping other major influencers from doing it with similar products?
