Alexis Robinson, Owner of One Brand Agency, on building brands for athletes

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Alexis Robinson is the owner of One Brand Agency, a brand management agency that focuses on building brands for athletes and influencers. Brian and Alexis go behind the scenes to talk about athlete branding, what athletes can do to attract brands and partnerships, and best practices for brands when they work with athletes and influencers.

Full Transcript

Brian Bosché:
Everyone welcome back to creativeBTS. This is Brian Bosché, and today I am so excited to be interviewing and joined by Alexis Robinson the owner of One Brand Agency. Alexis, how's it going?

Alexis Robinson:
Hi, thank you for having me. I'm good, how are you?

Brian Bosché:
I'm doing well, just wildfires are burning across the west, we're in a pandemic, just trying to survive out here.

Alexis Robinson:
I know, it's carried over here to Vegas. The air quality, yesterday it was insane all because of the wild fires in California and stuff. It's definitely a weird time, but we're getting through it.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I'm from Seattle, and I think they had more fires today than the last 12 seasons combined. It's just crazy. Stay safe out there, and don't have any explosives at your gender reveal parties please. Just another crazy Twitter news story.

Alexis Robinson:
There's nothing you can expect to see or hear anymore with this year.

Brian Bosché:
I'm not surprised by anything. Ont this podcast, which is definitely more fun, maybe a little bit of an escape for people for some personal growth and learning, wanted to have you on to talk about basically athlete branding, personal branding, influencer branding, you do a lot of incredible work with different athletes and influencers on how they can build their brands. Would just love to start off with a little bit of your background, how you got into this space, how you got into your line of work, and would love to hear more about your experience there.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, absolutely. I come from an athlete family, so dad, NBA professional basketball player.

Brian Bosché:
Nice.

Alexis Robinson:
I think every brother, uncle, cousins, everyone in my family all played collegiate professional basketball, so I've always had when it comes to management agents, a publicist and stuff, I've always had those people around in my family. Working with someone I'm related to. I ended up playing collegiate and professional tennis, and when I was-

Brian Bosché:
Nice, I saw that.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, when I was done, I basically was like you know I don't want to go work for someone, I don't have that ambition. I thought I was going to be a tennis player, so when that was over, I just decided to make the transition over to working with athletes and going to OU, I would meet football players, and I went to school with some good basketball players, and then I had family that were hoopers at Oklahoma State, so then I met a bunch of football players and basketball players there, so I kind of figured out throughout my network of people that I knew, I could help expand their marketing reach with the connections to brands and media.

Alexis Robinson:
So I wouldn't call it cold calling, but I would just go to some of the athletes that I knew and be like hey, I know you probably have an agent, but do you have management or do you have marketing, because there's money and opportunities out here outside of your sport that can last through your playing career and beyond, and once you sort of convince an athlete that, it becomes really easy and then in the past three years, the rise of social media and how much money and influence you can create on social media has definitely made it easier for me to get clients, and the brand attachment is what's drawn in quote unquote social media influencers or Instagram models, or anyone with some good following, they realized I can capitalize off this too, so they've picked up on it, and they wanted to work with me and stuff. It's become a full circle as far as like I said, I grew up with people like me around in my life, and now I'm one of those people.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, you see so many stories of people growing up around it, in the locker room seeing professional athletes and then circling back to it. For tennis, I was also a huge tennis player. Played nationals at USC and everything. What region did you grow up playing in?

Alexis Robinson:
Oh nice, so I was in, I'm pretty sure it's still mountain west, like Nevada.

Brian Bosché:
Oh nice.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, Arizona. I was born and raised in Vegas. I've always played here. To be completely honest, it was kind of crazy, I thought I was going to be a basketball player, I think I lettered probably 10 times in high school. I was always playing. I played softball, baseball, tennis, and basketball, and obviously just gene-wise, I really thought I was going to be a basketball player like everyone else in my family. I guess I'm only five, eight, which to basketball players isn't that tall, and I realized really late in high school, I would just play tennis on my team, just because my uncle who is an NBA coach, he actually was one of the ... I think he's the only John Lucas, he's the only person to play professional basketball and tennis at the same time. So I picked up the sport from him. It was just kind of like, him and my grandmother, so it was just kind of me being good at it, so I decided to play it in high school, and then my senior year of high school I realized team sports weren't for me at all. So I was like I like being alone, I like having control over the outcome and myself and everything like that. So that's when I really picked up tennis. I didn't have a lot of chance to play national tournament and stuff.

Brian Bosché:
And then you went straight to college and played? That's incredible.

Alexis Robinson:
I know, well I went to a couple of camps going into my senior year when I decided I want to be serious about tennis. It was like UC San Diego, they did a Nike camp. I went to one Bollettieri and then I think I forget where the other one was, it was probably in Phoenix, somewhere close, drivable. I ended up getting MVP of the one at UCSD, and I got all team at Bollettieri and everything like that, so that's when I was like I could probably do this at the next level. I didn't realize that I was as good as I was. So I had such a good time at Bollettieri that I was like I'm just going to get a coach and be the next Serena, just go on tour.

Alexis Robinson:
And then the year went by, I had a great senior year, and then my mom was like, "I really want you to go to college." I was like, "I'm not going to college, I'm going pro, you should be happy for me." And then she basically cried her eyes out, and was like, "I really want my daughter to go to college." The only school at the time that still had a scholarship for me was a small, in the WAC Conference, Dixie State, in St. George, Utah and there was another one in Colorado that I also had a scholarship still available to, but Dixie State, they played BYU, Hawaii, and a bunch of schools in Hawaii, so I knew I would get to go to Hawaii for free.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah.

Alexis Robinson:
So yeah, I just chose that school to start out with, and then after two years, I ended up meeting my tennis coach, my pro coach, George. His name was Vic Braden. His mentee was-

Brian Bosché:
Oh yeah, I know Vic Braden.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah. So Vic, he had a tennis academy out in St. George, so him and Andy Fitzell who was main coach, his mentee, they took me on. I guess they saw something in me past my team, because we would actually practice at his academy. I started doing private lessons and camps with them, and training. I was playing doubles with one of their players that they had come in from Vietnam, she was the number one tennis player in Vietnam, so she could get us bids into tournaments and stuff like that. So it was kind of a whirlwind. Definitely not the normal tennis experience. I definitely lucked into a lot of it, but it was cool. I'm left-handed, I have a good serve, and I'm fast. So I was total John McEnroe, I was serving volley.

Brian Bosché:
Serving volley.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, and so it took me places.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, it seems like that's a lot healthier, because I was the tennis kid that trained at academies from age six. So I was southern California, in that conference and then in inner mountain. So I've played in Vegas all the time. All of our inner mountain tournaments were there at the Agassi, their big tennis camp there. I played at Vic Braden's tennis academy a bunch for tournaments, but I got totally burnt out, because I was full-time at academies too in Southern California at Advantage, and it's so tiring. I wish I would have gone into it a little bit later and just enjoyed the fun of it. But yeah, tennis is a grueling sport.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, it's like you want to find the in between, because there's that part that my mom, because I had a decent for me, I had a decent pro stint. I got to play some really cool tournaments doubles wise, and made a little bit of money, and I got to travel and do some really cool things. There's that part where I'm satisfied, but my mom's like, "If you were a pro with the little effort and the time, imagine if you could have started with academies when you were eight like everyone else." I'm like, "Yeah, I know."

Brian Bosché:
Going pro at 14 like Steffi Graf and winning tournaments at 13. Going back to the athlete branding, just for this audience, can you define what athlete branding is, because this is a pretty new category, like you said. So how can people think about what this type of marketing or what this type of branding even is?

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah. Athlete branding is basically convincing and athlete, and then convincing the brand but you want athletes to become recognizable outside of their sport. When it comes to athlete branding, some of the top ones that I can think of it's like Bryce Harper, I don't watch baseball, I've never been a fan. Bryce is from here, and I grew up with Bryce and have been around him and his family and we have the same friends, hung out, all this other stuff. Our entire young-adult life, and young life, and I didn't realize who it was until I stepped into this space and I'm like wow, I know people in basketball, or people that live out of the country and things like that, that have no interest in baseball and aren't from Vegas, but they know Bryce Harper and they know that he's from Vegas. So he's implemented a brand for himself. He's very proud of where he's from, so he's added that into his branding, and he's become so commercial and marketable that it doesn't really matter what he does in the sport, thank goodness, he's been able to excel in the sport, but you have a lot of athletes that have great brands who haven't done huge things in their sports and that's because they have someone like me or me pushing them, pushing that out of them, because when you're done playing the sport, hopefully you want and are going after the opportunities out there.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, maybe one of the few baseball players that actually does good personal branding. I know that's a huge problem. If Mike Trout walked into a room, could you actually identify who he was, or if you were a normal American, maybe not. For the basics, what are some of the goals of athlete branding? If we get down to it, it's like brand sponsorship, social following, what are some of the things that you're trying to accomplish with this athlete branding?

Alexis Robinson:
I think the big thing is brand sponsorships, obviously money talks, so that's the big thing. And also I wouldn't say social media following, but I would say your reach. I have clients who don't have a ton of ... One of my WNBA clients, Dearica Hamby. She was sixth woman last year, and since then I forced her, market brand yourself. And the reason I've done that is because the WNBA they don't do a great job of branding their athletes. Everyone can maybe name three or four WNBA players if they're not a fan, and it's the same ones, Sue Bird, Taurasi, Delle Donne, Candace Parker, you know.

Alexis Robinson:
So I was adamant with Dearica, I was like you need to create a brand for yourself, because you are one of the top players in this league, you play for one of the best teams, you play for a team that has other marketable assets to them, and you play in Vegas. You're one of the two professional sports teams that we have here. Let's step outside the box. And she's done a great job of that. Has her social media, she only has 40, 50,000 followers, but her reach is insane. I have people, because she's a mom, she brought her daughter out to the bubble, so she's doing full-time mom, and full-time basketball. I've had my mom and some of her friends mention Dearica, and her articles that was in Essence, or seeing her daughter on ESPN blowing a kiss to mommy. I've had people who aren't WNBA and basketball fans recognize Dearica for her parenting outside of her basketball. So I think your reach is one of the big goals, because if you can do that, it's easy to get the other goal, which is the sponsorship.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, and writing off her momentum where she had one of the most electric shots I've ever seen in basketball last year in the WNBA playoffs, even though it was a tad early in the shot clock.

Alexis Robinson:
That was so crazy being there in person, because I was a new, unfortunately, coming from a basketball family, I should be more of a WNBA women's basketball fan, but I wasn't until Dearica and I became friends. It was me going to every game locally and loving it, but I never been more shook, hated, lost for air, everything than I was at that game.

Brian Bosché:
It was insane.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, it was insane, but it also made me the manager side that's always thinking, I'm like okay WNBA these games are lit. People need to get into this sport, because this is the funnest I've had at a basketball game.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, with those bang/bang plays where it's just like okay got the steal, running back, don't really know how much time is left, throw it up, get to the next round, it was unbelievable. And you're right in the wubble this year I love the babies in the wubble on both sides. The WNBA just let them in too with the families. Candace Parker and the women have had them in the wubble for pretty much the whole time, but we had Ari Chambers on the first Create a BTS podcast, and she's like invest in these personalities. If you're wanting to get into the WNBA, if you're wanting to get into these sports, invest in the personalities because these women are amazing. These athletes are amazing as people, and you're right, if their play doesn't go as well, or maybe they don't live up to all the hype, people still will invest and follow those personalities even above the level of play.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah. I think Dearica has definitely gotten herself there, and the thing is surprisingly a lot of people don't know, Dearica doesn't even start. And people thought after that shot last year, after being six woman this year, and with Liz and Kelsey being out there, oh, she's for sure going to move to the starting lineup, she still doesn't start. For her to have the kind of brand that she's been able to create coming off the bench for a WNBA team is incredible. I told her that's something that you should be proud of that people know your name regardless of them being a WNBA fan, and you're not even in the starting five. That's definitely an accomplishment and a goal that she's been able to achieve.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I mean she's what, top 200 woman in the world in basketball. Even if you're coming off the bench in the WNBA that's an incredible achievement. And to go kind of into the different elements that go into these athletes and how you brand it, what are some of the things that you find are most important when they're trying to build that reach? You mentioned a little bit about them building the awareness of them off the court, but what are some of the most important factors that you'll build into their brands as you're working with your different clients?

Alexis Robinson:
Consistency and content creation are probably the biggest things, but they're also the biggest obstacles, because they're not used to realizing that creating photos and videos of themselves and doing it if not daily then almost every other day, weekly, whatever, it's definitely not something that they're used to. So that's always been the biggest thing with my athletes, trying to convince them if you just create the content and create it consistently, I promise you it's going to come back 10 fold, because not only it's just a ladder effect as far as social media. The more you post, the more followers you get, that's just normal, but with brands and possible sponsorship deals it's like okay if they see that you can create this sort of content and you can do it consistently that drives them to want to work with you, because they'll get their return of investment.

Brian Bosché:
Do you have a game plan for them to create content? I do a lot of TikTok videos, I'll try to create, but there's a big learning curve to getting good at creating content. Do you have a game plan for them, is there a training, how could you help them produce more content or at least better content?

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, no, I individualize each client. So if I have some influencers here in Vegas, I have some in Phoenix. Dearica, she's in the wubble, things like that. But Dearica, they ended up bringing out the photography person or the aces ended up going out to the wubble with them, so we had a conversation with him ahead of time like just make sure if Dearica feels like getting ready today or we have a brand sponsored post that we need, if you could do us a solid, please let us know. I always have individualized, I don't know it's like my craziness in my head, and I try and put it into tech/Slack format for the people that I'm working with, but it's always individualized, and I've partnered with some really great content creators. Some of the best photographers and videographers out there and then I also have some people that if they can't get with someone that I recommend, they will create the content themselves. I'm like look, if we need to get a ring light and a self timer stand out to you, we will go ahead and do it, and then I know someone who's really good at editing photos so that way we can just make sure the content is great, all you have to do is do the bare-minimum, put the self timer on, and take a photo.

Alexis Robinson:
So it's definitely individualized, and it definitely takes a strategic plan catered to each client, but that's my job. I definitely take the time to figure that out for them.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I can only imagine when they're not doing it, and you're like come on, and that's pretty common in a lot of businesses where you ask, maybe it's the subject matter expert needs to record something for you, and it's not their full-time job, but you need it for your marketing plan. What are some of your strategies when they aren't consistently posting, or they're just not doing it up to the level that you need them to?

Alexis Robinson:
Luckily I don't run into that problem a lot, because like I said, I'm a little bit I'm on them all the-

Brian Bosché:
Make it easy as possible.

Alexis Robinson:
... time. But I will say, Dearica is probably the one that I have the most trouble with as far as creating content. The thing is that Dearica and I laugh it off, because I sat down with Kelsey Plum, one of her teammates about working with her and possibly doing some campaigns with her, and Kelsey even laughed, she's like, "Yeah, Dearica told me she's not very good at this, but I'm ready. I'm ready to go. If you have any campaigns for me, don't hesitate to ask." So it's funny. Dearica is probably the only one that I usually have an issue with, and I don't know why. I don't know if she's shy, I will say she's kind of a perfectionist, so maybe that's why, so doing it in the wubble even though she has the resources, I think just she's just trying to play well, get in, get out. They're in that tough environment and they're IMG. I'm like oh I went to IMG. For tennis, it's not the most ideal place. We laugh about it, but other than that, usually my clients they don't really have trouble, because at the end of the day, this is how you make money.

Alexis Robinson:
So everyone's replaceable. At the end of the day, it's really easy to find someone who is good looking and has a lot of followers I've realized that, because a good chunk of influencers daily inquire about being clients of mine. So I think when they realize that, and I'm sure everyone during this quarantine has, seeing that people are just sort of some influencers are shoving content.

Brian Bosché:
There's nothing else to do.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, exactly. So I'm like look, you can take advantage of this opportunity, or there's someone else who will and I think that's definitely something that my clients understand.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, there is definitely hard to break through, and get use to having yourself on camera, even listening to your own voice if you have to listen to those back, if you're uncomfortable there, but yeah especially with social media, it feels like people a lot more comfortable producing. You've seen some really good examples of athletes doing this, some from the NBA bubble where Matisse is starting the vlog, JaVale McGee is starting the vlog, and they're doing incredible production work themselves. That's a great example of a brand that can see that, and go okay this person can create good content consistently, that's really engaging for their audience. What are some of the things that you see brands really wanting when they're working with athletes? Are there a top three thing that they look at before they start working with you or are interested in working with working with the different athletes?

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, I think definitely the top three things would be your engagement.

Brian Bosché:
So they're looking at the social profiles and being like all right, how much engagement do they get per post and things like that?

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, that's why as far as the following, they don't really care, but if they see a lot of eyes on it, that's definitely more important to the brands. The media reach is another one that's more important to the brands, so even if you're an influencer and you don't want press from our company I recommend that even if it's just for 60 to 90 days, because in that 60 to 90 days I can get you on the top ESPN, or Essence Magazine. All these things, so that way, when a brand is like I might not know who De'Anthony Melton or Dearica Hamby is, but they Google and they see a list of things, they're like at least if I work with them, if I partner with them, people will pay attention. At the end of the day, whoever's more popular outside of the actual following number, whoever can prove that popularity through media, through engagement, is how they're going to get their return of sales. Their return of investment, AKA sales, which is what leads them to want to work with someone.

Brian Bosché:
Got it. So engagements the big one. Any other big ones? Is professionalism one? Is it repeat working with someone, just because of how they are working with a brand? What can athletes do to attract them, yeah?

Alexis Robinson:
It can be, but the thing is I will say and I know sometimes there are influencers and/or athletes that say that they can do it all, but I can say personally that you should have management/branding in any sort of capacity if you're a public figure, because what you just asked, usually comes from a company. I have-

Brian Bosché:
You handle that side.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, I have four or five brands that I work religiously with, paid deals, and I'll throw them a client that they probably never heard of, but because our relationship is so good and they know that I'm going to come through, they'll do it just off of that. So that's probably the biggest thing, the loyalty usually comes from a company, and if it's not a management company, it could be an agency. There are a lot of companies that I'm sure see a clutch client and are like we're going to work with them just because it's clutch and we know we'll get some sort of branding off of Rich Paul and Lebron.

Alexis Robinson:
Usually in that capacity the loyalty comes from working with someone, some sort of company because you can reach out as an athlete yourself and it's really hit or miss and you might create great content, and you might not have even known that your following isn't a following that will purchase certain products. I do that research for each of my client, I know the type of brands that Dearica should work with, I know the type of brands that De'Anthony should have worked with or any sort of thing. That's the big thing when it comes to the loyalty with the brands. They usually are looking for these companies, whether it be an agency or a management company first before they even look at the athlete and/or influencer.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. You're the barrier, the professional barrier between where you can handle that for the athlete. And when the athlete, I guess it's what has changed over the last 20 years. There's so many more social movements and personal brands are so much more centered around what you stand for and who you are. Are you finding that brands are attracted to athletes who take a stand for different issues outside of the sport, and is that becoming a more important element? Or are there any other trends you see where athletes can really stand out outside of maybe just what they're doing on the field, on the court, anything like that?

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, I think especially during this time you've seen a huge social justice push in brands and in the athletes and I think the brands that are able to not shy away from that, and have been able to partner with athletes have done well just over this COVID time. So I think the way to keep a campaign, sponsorship campaign organic and the way for it to do the best is to align with athletes that have a story to tell, and that have some sort of interest. I don't have any influencer. I mean granted, maybe just the right dollar amount hasn't hit yet, but I don't have any influencer or athlete who has ever been like yes, I'm going to take that deal, and it not been something that they use, that they wear, that they love, that they enjoy, it's just you can tell nowadays who posts, or who attaches themselves to brands just for the dollar figure instead of the actual likeness of the product. I think with the brands taking the time to find that organic story telling, and liking of the connection between the athlete and the brand is the best way to increase sales.

Alexis Robinson:
Natasha Cloud with Converse, her being the first, she was the first Converse basketball female athlete. They used to only have Kelly Oubre on the roster, then they recently got Draymond Green, and then they got her, and she's the only female, and they really got behind her with the social justice push that's she's been making to opt out of the season in order to spend time and focus on her initiatives with social justice change and everything like that.

Alexis Robinson:
So I think not only did that drive sales to Converse Hoops, that drew eyes that didn't even know that Converse had a basketball element to them, because a lot of people didn't know that, even though they did have Kelly and Draymond. If you're not a basketball fan it's hard to ... I think Draymond is a basketball athlete for them, and I think Kelly is a model-

Brian Bosché:
A fashion, the fits.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah. Exactly.

Brian Bosché:
The top fits guy, yeah.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, so he's that to them, and then to bring a female on, but to have her be a recent WNBA champion, and then to be an advocate for black athletes, for black Americans, for the LGBTQ community, everything like that. I think for her to have all of that in for them to have all of that in one athlete, they definitely seen a spike in sales and like I said, have gotten people to realize that Converse had a basketball division.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, which is crazy after the Last Dance was released this summer. I'm a '90s baby, so looking at Converse as the dominant basketball player, I was like what? How can Nike take them over so much and you see them start to work their way back into the market here. But yeah, it's been fascinating to see, because I'm like is Converse cool again?

Alexis Robinson:
I think they are.

Brian Bosché:
I think they're getting pretty cool. The brand relationship with the athletes, obviously two-way relationship and this audience for this podcast work on the brand side. In your experience, what are some tips you have for the brands, because they can also fuck things up a lot too with the athletes and ruin those relationships or not do things particularly well. So do you have some best practices for the brand themselves on how to better work with athletes?

Alexis Robinson:
Yes. First, always go through-

Brian Bosché:
The definitive yes, I absolutely do.

Alexis Robinson:
Always go through whether it be a manager or an agent, always go through them, never try to make the connection with the athlete. Nine times out of 20, that doesn't work, because one, athletes don't usually want to be bothered anyway. And two, they're still, especially right now times are crazy, there's this COVID situation, there's everything that's going on with social justice, there's a lot happening and everyone's opinions are different and to avoid managers/agents are really good at separating the two. Brands, to an athlete won't be, it won't happen. There will always be some sort of the second someone states an opinion and it's not something that either the athlete agrees on, or maybe it's visa versa. It ends up bad.

Alexis Robinson:
So communicate through basically quote unquote the escrow, because that's what a manager or an agent is. Communicate through that, because that will avoid drama, because I already know, there's tons of brands out here that might not care about the killing of George Floyd, or people that are head of influencer relations at I don't want to name a company, because I don't know if they actually are, but there could be a random company where the vice president of marketing or head of influencer relations is a Donald Trump supporter and doesn't care about anything that these athletes are talking about and wants them to shut up and dribble. Those people exist, but if they're not letting the athlete know who they are, it makes things easier.

Brian Bosché:
Work with the escrow, work with you, work with the management, not directly with the athlete. That's great advice.

Alexis Robinson:
Yes. That's probably the number one thing, and then the number two thing that I've seen lately is come up with some originality when it comes to who you're working with. I even said it today, I've seen so many brands that are doing campaigns with the same athletes and influencers, and I am a serial online/Instagram shopper. I see something that I can click and buy it, I will buy it. I'm one of those, and I'm seeing the same people attached to some of these brands and I'm over it. I don't want to purchase product from this person. That's the big thing, is these brands, you got time, no one's doing anything right now. Do the research and find out some of these micro influencers it might not even be about a lot of followers. I will say you know Kim Kardashian, she's all about her money, she's all about marketing and everything. I have a client who just did a Skims campaign with her, her lounge wear line, and they found her off of Instagram and reached out to us about doing a campaign and now she's on a billboard in New York City, and she's-

Brian Bosché:
I saw that on her Twitter, it's amazing.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, so all these things have happened to her, but that was the social team at Skims were literally looking through tagged, I'm assuming, but I know it's hell because that's how they found her. They're looking through tagged profiles of people who genuinely wear Skims and guy it and they're like oh okay, she loves our product, she tagged us in the brand, and then they click on her page and they see oh wait, this girls actually a model, she's an influencer. Oh she has a lot of followers, oh her photos outside of just the ones she did for us are really, really pretty. And they DMed her and asked for her contact information of her team about doing a shoot, and that's how it all started. Her campaign has been everywhere. I didn't even know that we were going to get mentioned in Elle and in People and all these other things, and that's why I will say, Kim and her team took the time to do their diligence to not just ... You know, Kim Kardashian, she's got five sisters, she could have easily been like all you guys put on some Skims and do a photo shoot.

Brian Bosché:
But they did the work.

Alexis Robinson:
You know, but she made it a point to influencers to represent her brand. That's what I think the brands need to spend their time doing is don't just shove the same people down our throats. We want to see something different and I know the sales from that Skims campaign are probably through the roof, because not only did they have different types of influencers, they had different body types, they had different color women who were doing it. All different shapes, sizes, and color. That's the big thing, because the reason I buy stuff on the internet, is because I'll be like oh okay I think that fits my body type, or this looks like something for tennis people because I'm a tennis fan. I'm not necessarily a basketball fan when it comes to product and clothing. Things like that, it's catering towards every type of audience is the way that you can get these people to buy stuff, because the attention span is very, very small these days. It's like if you just do your diligence and find people that can fit everyone's type, it would make things so much better.

Brian Bosché:
The refresh rate, especially now when everyone's just at home are just stuck scrolling through, you're seeing the same things a lot more than you typically would, so you want personalized and fresh faces, fresh things to look at every single time, which can make it a lot more powerful for the brand, and that makes a lot of sense. It's pretty amazing to see that she's tagging, this is good feedback for individual creators and influencers too where just keep tagging, keep getting yourself visibility because you can be found like that. That's a pretty amazing story to hear.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, and that's the thing, and I've told her, if you're going somewhere and you got to get dressed up anyway, I know it sounds crazy, but whoever it is, if you're around someone, make them snap a photo of you, if they can't put your self timer on and snap a photo. If you stay consistent, and if you tag the brands that you're already a fan of, because you're purchasing product from these people, then it will turn into, now they'll start sending you product, and then they'll be like we're going to start paying you to wear our product, because you're doing such a good job showing people that you like our product, and that's honestly how it's been for her, she just got another one of her favorite brands in Chicago, she just signed an ambassador deal with and I was telling her, I was like it's because you've decided to go all in when it comes to content creation, and staying consistent with the creation and the post is honestly it's my advice to any kind of influencer, content creator, micro influencer, public figure, ambassador, or whatever you want to call it. Stay consistent and post, post, post, because that's what these brands want to see.

Brian Bosché:
Yep. And just tag them even if it looks like sometimes you're like should I really tag them, does it look thirsty, but no, that's how they find you.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, it really is, because now they're-

Brian Bosché:
Okay, I don't want to ... Go ahead.

Alexis Robinson:
I was saying, now these brands, they hire social media department, so you really do have people that are just sitting on their phones or iPads all day looking at where their product is on social media.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I was just going to say, I don't have much longer with you, I don't want to keep you too much longer, but I wanted to end with most creative BTS will go through a specific case study of using the principles we talk about into an actual what you did with a client. We talked a little bit before about your work with De'Anthony Melton, with Dearica Hamby, is there a specific case study you'd like to highlight to take us from start to finish?

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, I think probably a collab that De'Anthony did with Perry Ellis, which I'm not sure if you're familiar with, but they're an older brand, they're known for suits, and they're kind of the country club audience.

Brian Bosché:
I am familiar. I was a tennis player. In that target market.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, exactly. So basically, De'Anthony had mentioned he was injured at the beginning of the season, so we were pretty sure that he was going to have to wear suits on the bench and when he was traveling and things like that.

Brian Bosché:
And he's an NBA player for everyone who doesn't know for the Memphis Grizzlies.

Alexis Robinson:
Yes. And so he mentioned I need some suits, so I was like, "Okay, I'll reach out to a couple of companies." And being a tennis player I was like Perry Ellis. So I reached out to the marketing director at Perry Ellis and mentioned that De'Anthony was looking to possibly be gifted, that's it, we just wanted to get a suit, a couple jackets, maybe some different ties, just that he could wear during season while he was injured, and they ended up sending him a gift package of not just suits, but they had a poncho in there, they had a couple t-shirts, and polos. And so it was cold in Memphis during the winter when the season was started and he ended up wearing the poncho through the tunnel, and I have as the manager, I made sure to create a good relationship with his social team at the Grizzlies, so when the tunnel pictures came, I made sure to get them from the social team. I sent them to the marketing director at Perry Ellis, she fell in love, she was so excited and she mentioned we're coming out with an ath leisure line. This is going to be the first collection through Perry Ellis, and I was so excited because I'm like I work with athletes, so that's perfect.

Alexis Robinson:
They ended up doing a campaign that initiated during NBA all star. I brought one of my basketball influencers, her name is Casey, she is an NBA and WNBA host. And they ended up doing a great paid campaign with her on site and NBA all star, and then throughout the rest of the season they did a paid deal, monthly deal with De'Anthony to wear the ath leisure line on game days for tunnel pics. And it was great, because De'Anthony actually loved it. He's still, I mean they did a few tunnel pics during the wubble when they were there in the beginning and I saw him wearing it. He loves the ath leisure line. So he was excited about the free cloths, but they ended up turning into a paid loved his content. And the reason they loved his content is because like I said, I made that connection with the social team, and De'Anthony made that connection with the team photographer, so we always were able to get the content and then LeagueFits and all these sites or pages that promote the outfits and fits that the guys are wearing, he got posted on LeagueFits a few times. So Perry Ellis was like wow we're getting this basketball audience that we've never had before.

Alexis Robinson:
It ended up being a really great collaboration and partnership, and to this day, it's one of the ones that I'm most proud of, because it started with De'Anthony just being like, "I need a suit."

Brian Bosché:
And he didn't have very many partnerships to start with, right? So this is kind of building from the ground up.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, exactly. He was a second round player, it was now his third team that he was a part of in his second year of being in the league. There was definitely some much needed branding that came with him. To do that so early on, and us working together it was great. Honestly, I can say because they sent me stuff, so I have some of the ath leisure line as well, I do wear it frequently and people always when I do tag, they always ask where I got it, or they always are asking about sizing so they can buy it, and make sure they're like this is a new brand I've never worn before. I want to make sure to get the sizing right.

Alexis Robinson:
So that's the best thing is when you have collaboration with a brand and like I said, it's organic, everyone loves the product, and the brand loves the content you're creating with the product, and it just ends up working out for everyone involved.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, I love that case study, because you're right, second round pick, bouncing between teams, needs to build his presence and brand, because especially for professional athletes, they don't have long in professional sports and they got to set themselves up for afterward. So it's great to start setting that up and building your own brand. But that's all the time we have Alexis. Thank you so much for coming on. I have one more question, which I do on every Creative BTS, which is the parting shot. It's what do you want to leave this audience with? It could be wisdom, lessons, best practices, what young athletes should be doing? What would be your parting shot that you'd want to leave this audience with?

Alexis Robinson:
I'd say my parting shot, especially because I have given this advice out, I do run high school and AAU basketball tournaments. All these top players, some of them who are going into the G-league and things like that I see and get to know very well, and I tell them all especially now that the NCAA is allowing you to use your brand and your name and things like that, start as early as you can, so take advantage of the leniency that the NCAA is creating, get started on creating a presence in your social media it's kids, so I get it. If it's just social, that's fine. Buy a domain, even if you never use it until you make it to the pros or whatever, just get your domain now so that you have it if you have any ideas or merch or anything, trademarks, get all that stuff out of the way really young in life, and if you don't know how to do it, ask someone that so they can tell you how to do it, or help you figure out how to do it, because you can start earning money, you can create a brand, you can do all this stuff as soon as now, high school. Look at Dwayne Wade's son. His clothing line.

Brian Bosché:
They start so early.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, it's blowing up, but he got all his ducks in a row, and then he's utilizing his social media following by selling merch. So that's the big thing is create your brand and legally do whatever you need to do, but just remember that you can start as early as 15, 16 years-old, and it will make it so much easier as well once you do start your professional career.

Brian Bosché:
Yeah, and even if you don't turn out to be a professional athlete, it's still incredible professional development skills that you're growing even for any business, anything.

Alexis Robinson:
Yeah, absolutely.

Brian Bosché:
Great. Well thank you so much for coming on Alexis, I appreciate the time. I learned a lot, especially as I'm doing my little TikTok influencer thing, trying to grow that brand.

Alexis Robinson:
We'll talk about that outside the show as well.

Brian Bosché:
Taking a lot of these lessons, but thank you so much for coming on.

Alexis Robinson:
Yes, thank you for having me, and like I said, we'll talk about the Tik, because I do need some TikTok influencers. Brands are asking about it, so I didn't know it really is all the rave right now. Yeah, thank you for having me, and hopefully I helped a little bit. Yeah, if anyone followed One Brand Agency wherever, and if you're someone who needs an influencer, or some brand help, hit me up.

Brian Bosché:
Absolutely. All right, thanks. Bye.

Alexis Robinson:
Bye.