Game changers: how MassMutual’s ‘Stay Ready’ marketing campaign units a brand new usual for unique athlete partnerships

Unveiled all through March Madness, the marketing campaign is a case find out about in how manufacturers can use purpose-led storytelling, feminine illustration, and fiscal training to construct deep emotional resonance and social have an effect on. At the POSSIBLE convention in Miami, LSU Tigers guard and hip-hop artist Flau’jae Johnson joined MassMutual’s head of name technique and buyer enlargement Kristin LaFemina and Deep Blue Sports & Entertainment founder Laura Correnti to wreck down what made the marketing campaign land – and the way different entrepreneurs can practice swimsuit.

The marketing campaign options Johnson along U.S. football megastar Christen Press and tennis participant Madison Keys, drawing parallels between athletic preparation and fiscal readiness – highlighting technique, teamwork, and self-discipline as crucial components in each arenas.

“We as a brand have always invested a lot in women in sports, and it just was the right opportunity that came along for us to put a message in the market about how MassMutual is a trusted financial partner to women,” LaFemina defined all through the panel.

MassMutual’s proprietary analysis published a vital 40% hole in monetary self assurance between men and women – a “meaningful” distinction, in line with LaFemina, who emphasised the significance of relied on monetary steering and recommendation for girls.

The marketing campaign marks a milestone in females’s sports activities advertising, with LaFemina noting that MassMutual is “the first brand to put three female athletes in a hero cinematic film like we did other than Nike.”

For Johnson, whose NIL (identify, symbol, and likeness) good fortune has made her a standout amongst faculty athletes, the partnership represents an unique alignment of values. “MassMutual, they’re all about the future, protecting your future, but also protecting the people you love and securing your financial future,” Johnson defined.

As a Gen Z athlete with important affect throughout a couple of platforms, Johnson believes monetary literacy has develop into more and more necessary to her technology. “A lot of our generation are becoming entrepreneurs, and they’re using social media… people want to learn about financing,” Johnson stated, including that she tries to make use of her platform to emphasise how “these four years can set you up for your next 40.”

Deep Blue’s Correnti, whose company is devoted solely to bringing extra business funding to girls’s sports activities, highlighted a essential “systems issue” that has traditionally restricted funding in females’s athletics. “Women’s sports still today in 2025 continue to be transacted on a CPM basis,” Correnti defined, noting that till lately, most ladies’s carrying occasions weren’t even broadcast in primetime. “How can you evaluate, invest in, and measure something on a basis of which it hasn’t had a fair opportunity to even compete?”

The marketing campaign’s distribution technique purposefully prolonged past simply females’s sports activities, with LaFemina confirming that they’ve “a full schedule of this work running in men’s sports as well.”

This manner acknowledges the numerous financial alternative, with LaFemina noting that “women control a huge amount of economic activity today, and they’re set to inherit… trillions more. So if you’re a brand that’s not there in service of women, then you’re going to miss a big opportunity.”

The marketing campaign’s female-led manner prolonged in the back of the scenes as smartly, that includes an all-women advertising group at MassMutual, a feminine director, and a woman-owned company. This illustration has generated important sure reaction, with LaFemina sharing that after they showcased the paintings internally, “they had a standing ovation. People were crying.”