Ep. 164 - Olympic ABM Playbook! Challenger Brands and Pro Women Athletes Ahead of Milan 2026 🥇

In this episode of Scrappy ABM, host Mason Cosby breaks down a newsletter subscriber’s challenge: designing an ABM campaign that links challenger consumer brands with Olympian and Para Olympian ambassadors in the run-up to Milan 2026.

Best Moments:

(00:32) Introduction to the specific ABM challenge from a newsletter subscriber

(01:21) Target: marketers at challenger consumer brands with sports sponsorships but no dedicated sports-marketing staff

(01:44) Strategy suggestion: start with manual desk research for a focused target-account list

(02:48) Recommendation to target the marketing department at director/manager level rather than C-suite executives

(03:24) Using social-media research to identify who posted about previous Olympics

(04:15) Importance of authentic alignment between athletes and brands, highlighting longevity of partnerships

(04:59) Suggestion for an Olympics-themed direct-mail program to spark internal conversations

(06:32) Approach of targeting key influencers before decision makers

(07:05) Using personalized athlete connections or Cameo videos for higher engagement

(08:18) Leveraging scarcity by emphasizing limited sponsorship availability