The awards show that celebrates athletic excellence has found an unlikely retail partner in a company better known for discounted designer handbags than slam dunks.
TJ Maxx, the off-price retailer owned by the TJX Companies, is returning for a second year as the exclusive retail sponsor of ESPN's ESPY Awards, a deal that reflects the brand's broader bet on women's sports — or, more precisely, on women athletes when they are not actually playing sports.
"Four years ago, we saw this opportunity with women in sports," said Ms. Trent, a marketing executive for the retailer, in an interview with Marketing Brew. "There was so much press around them, and it was really a little bit of a one-dimensional story on who they were as an athlete on the court, on the pitch, wherever it might be."
The ESPYs, which tend to feature athletes in formal wear rather than uniforms, offer TJ Maxx a venue to connect its fashion positioning with the rising cultural currency of women's sports. (One imagines the brand is less interested in sponsoring wind sprints.)
Ms. Trent declined to share specific metrics, though she noted that the company's women's sports content has been "some of the most high-performing work that we have" over the past four years — a claim that, in the absence of numbers, requires a certain faith in the speaker.
The strategy appears to be part of a longer-term commitment. Ms. Trent said the brand would continue its emphasis on athlete partnerships and its deal with the Boston Legacy, the National Women's Soccer League team that began play this year.
"I think soccer represents what we're seeing" across women's sports, she said, citing "authenticity" and "players that are unapologetically who they are."
For TJ Maxx, the pitch is straightforward: women athletes deserve to be seen as more than their stats. Whether that message moves merchandise remains, as ever, between the retailer and its receipts.
Original story published in Marketing Brew: "Why TJ Maxx is sponsoring the ESPYs"