athletes as brands and content creators

Today, winning on the field isn’t enough—athletes are competing beyond the game.

Athlete marketing is a growing direction where athletes intentionally build their personal brands, engage with fans, create content, and collaborate with companies—not just to stay relevant off the field, but to grow their influence and become the kind of story fans want to follow.

For sports enthusiasts and die-hard fans, athletes are the people behind unforgettable games, iconic moments, and emotional highs. But today, an athlete is more than just a player—they’re a brand, a creator, and an influencer.
You might not follow Formula 1, but you know who Lewis Hamilton is. You might not watch basketball, but you know Michael Jordan. You might not be into tennis, but you know Serena Williams.
These names aren’t only tied to athletic success—they’ve become global brands. They’ve stepped beyond the sports arena and, through strategic storytelling, secured a lasting place in both sports and pop culture.

Athlete marketing has gone through a major shift in the digital age. Where athletes once depended on sponsors, PR companies and traditional media to shape their image, today they’re the storytellers. Social media has given them the power to build their personal brand narratives directly, on their own terms.

In this article, we’ll share our observations on how athlete marketing is evolving in Georgia—and why sports federations, brands, and athletes themselves need to pay attention.

 

Athlete Marketing in Georgia – Where Do We Stand?

Sports marketing—and athlete marketing in particular—is just beginning to find its footing in the Georgian market. But even at this early stage, we can confidently say: the potential is huge.

A key turning point was the rebranding of Georgia’s national football team, followed by a series of standout performances that captured the nation’s attention and ultimately led to success at the UEFA European Championship. This visibility put the team’s players on the radar of international media. For Georgians, these athletes are now more than just footballers—they’ve become role models, each with a distinct personality that resonates beyond the game.

A major milestone in this evolution was the Bank of Georgia’s partnership with the national team —a collaboration that significantly advanced sports marketing in the country. It didn’t just support the sport; it elevated the entire conversation around athlete branding and communication. Team players became the faces of the campaign and the key messengers of the brand’s narrative.

I think this momentum has inspired other brands to carve out space for athlete marketing within their campaigns. As a result, we’ve started seeing exciting collaborations such as:

 

The Untapped Potential: Building Athlete Brands in Georgia

The components of an athlete's personal brand can be both visible and invisible. Visible elements include a logo, color palette, typography, and other visual assets, while the invisible side consists of persona, values, and principles.

Some Georgian athletes have already begun building their personal brand personas. For example, Giorgi Kochorashvili clearly demonstrates this through his social media presence. He frequently shares moments from his football career and training, and often appears on podcast-style shows—both in Georgian and Spanish media—where he talks about his lifestyle and the methods he uses to grow both physically and mentally. Through this, he offers fans a glimpse of who he is beyond the pitch.

However, we have yet to see any visible branding elements—such as a personal logo, color system, or typography—either for Kochorashvili or other Georgian athletes. In this regard, Formula 1 drivers serve as the best example. Each driver has a personalized logo and brand identity, which drives the design of their social media content, with a particular emphasis on YouTube. These elements collectively create a unique image for each athlete and help distinguish them from others. For these athletes, personal branding not only strengthens fan loyalty but also brings commercial benefits, which is why they invest in it strategically—something that’s still missing in the case of Georgian athletes.

The potential to turn athlete marketing into a powerful, results-driven, and strategic tool lies in the hands of Georgia’s sports ecosystem—brands, federations, and the athletes themselves. Giorgi Kochorashvili is one of the first local examples of this emerging process, but this is just the beginning.

The recommendation for federations, brands, and athletes is the same: start developing a strategic personal branding process.

• Federations should recognize the value of branding and invest in strengthening athletes' digital presence.

• Brands should see athletes not merely as marketing channels but as real partners.

• Athletes must understand that their story continues beyond the game itself.
  
  

For further investigation:

• Was the Crosty x Nakrebi collaboration part of a long-term strategy, or a one-off campaign?

• Do the athletes mentioned in our articles have personal brands and its strategies?

• How Mamardashvili's partnership will continue with TBC VS Bank of Georgia.

 

The photo materials used in the visuals belong to each respective brand and constitute their intellectual property