The Knicks won their first championship in 53 years which triggered major citywide pride for NYC. The Finals series captured the highest TV viewership numbers in 28 years at around 33 million viewers (15 billion on socials). For context, this was the highest viewership since 1998. 

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Laney Crowell, the founder of beauty brand Saie, didn’t know any of  this would happen when she took her  family to a Knicks game at MSG. While she was there she realized none of the ads on the jumbotron were speaking to them. 

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After gifting Saie products to the Knicks City Dancers she secured an official partnership with the New York Knicks and rode the wave by doing the makeup of the WAGs, ultimately inspiring a product launch for their 16 hour setting spray, CitySet.

36 million women are watching NBA basketball but Nielson has stated that 64.5 million women engage with at least one sport.  We know that women control 85% of consumer spend…. They’re buying tickets, organizing watch parties, and buying merchandise. And sports have always had a communal aspect to them, everyone is rooting for the same team. It feels like the idea was already there but brands just haven’t exactly caught up to it.

Women are core to sports fandoms… We’ve always known that but this collaboration proved it.

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Most people’s idea of a woman who watches sports is not a hyper feminine goddess archetype. You’d probably think that they’re women who prefer no makeup, or identify as “not like other girls” (ick). 

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The Knicks x Saie partnership challenges the idea that “sports consumers”  and “beauty consumers” are two different types of consumers. These identities aren’t separate for the women that enjoy sports.