SPORT
Mike, Ben, Bryan, Andy and Shaka … and the MatchKit.co offering
The problem with a pure social media play is that your personal brand lives across the internet in an extremely fragmented way. If a fan or brand is looking for you, they first need to know who you are, and then guess your handle on the various social platforms in order to find and follow you. Due to the way in which social media algorithms distribute your content to your timelines, not all of your followers or fans see all of your content, all of the time. This is a problem for your sponsors, as they are never exposed to your entire audience – the universe that defines the value of your digital presence. We thought: let’s build one destination to house your social media, key stats and a place to showcase your sponsors.
IMAGES: SUPPLIED
PICTURE PERFECT
Ben Karpinski and I were inspired by Tinder’s focus on the predominant profile picture. Its purpose is to find you dates while ours is to make athletes more marketable, and there is one social channel where these individuals are always presented at their professional best: Instagram. We pulled in Kirsty Sharman (no relation but a decade of friendship and professional relationships), threw names around and spitballed brand ideas. Finally, on 30 January 2020, we registered MatchKit.co. Some sketching ensued, until we agreed on a more refined approach
– website builder, best social media content featured, key stats, and the integration of a charity or foundation page to raise funds for something close to an athlete’s heart. The kicker, however, was the idea of hosting a store for personalised, branded merchandise where every athlete has the potential to brand their own clothing without ever having to see, touch, house or deliver the stock (MatchKit takes care of all of this for you). And for those who want to sell personalised voice notes and custom videos for fans and their friends’ special occasions, there’s an option for that too.
WHAT IS MATCHKIT.CO?
It’s a platform to help athletes make money, regardless the status of sporting events. • It’s a DIY website builder that enables athletes or their agents to showcase their sporting pedigree and sponsors – live within minutes. • It integrates into existing social media channels, including TikTok, to show potential sponsors the scope and quality of an athlete’s influence. • It provides athletes with a hasslefree, plug-and-play e-commerce store where fans can purchase everything from bespoke branded merchandise to personalised video and audio shout-outs. • It allows you to accept payments for your foundation or charity. themediaonline.co.za
14-15_TheMedia_June2021_SportBusiness.indd 15
Highlights of our traction so far: • We have signed up athletes with a combined global 6.7 million fans. Our MatchKit profiles have been viewed close to 80 000 times. • SA Hockey used the crowdfunding feature to raise $10 000 in two months for their Olympic fundraising efforts. • We have signed the US Olympic swimming team and are in talks with multiple Olympic bodies. • We’ve rolled out the integration of our tech into the Sudamérica Rugby app, where more than 200 athletes across Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Colombia are being given a personal branding overhaul in Spanish or Portuguese. • We are a Friends of Red Bull supplier. Sport is big money, as are those who play it. With MatchKit, we’ve created a way for athletes to take ownership of their digital lives and get their due. Mike Sharman founded Retroviral, an agency with an unsurpassed knack for helping brands go viral globally. You will have seen his work for Kreepy Krauly, RocoMamas, Russell Hobbs, Martin & Martin brands, and M-Net, to name a few. Sharman was named one of the Mail & Guardian’s top 200 young (under 35) South Africans in 2013 and is the co-founder of influencer marketing platform webfluential.com; retroactive.digital, a disruptive sports storytelling agency; and athlete ecosystem MatchKit.co. @mikesharman
T H E M E D I A I 15
30.06.21 11:58
