BODYARMOR Sports Drink + Barstool Sports Partnership
The 7th Annual Awards
- Most Creative Partnership
ABOUT THIS ENTRY
BODYARMOR teamed up with Barstool Sports as its OFFICIAL HYDRATION PARTNER, forging a groundbreaking partnership to engage younger consumers, boost brand awareness, and fuel sales growth. Leveraging Barstool’s highly engaged fanbase and top-tier personalities, BODYARMOR seamlessly integrated into the ecosystem through authentic, always-on content across the biggest sports and entertainment platforms – ultimately resulting in more than 1 billion media impressions, massive over-delivery on engagement, and major sales lifts for the brand.
How does this represent "Excellence in Engagement"?
BODYARMOR’s partnership with Barstool Sports sets a new benchmark for fan engagement by redefining how brands integrate into digital culture. Rather than traditional sponsorship, BODYARMOR embedded itself into Barstool’s ecosystem, leveraging top personalities, viral moments, and interactive activations to engage younger consumers in an authentic, always-on way.
From the bold ZERO to HIDE campaign with a competitor-facing billboard to the Flash I.V. Beer Games bus takeover, BODYARMOR created high-energy, shareable experiences that blurred the lines between entertainment and marketing. By tapping into Barstool’s influential voices—like Dave Portnoy, Pardon My Take, and PlanBri—the brand harnessed cultural relevance, ensuring organic audience participation rather than passive exposure.
This work raises the bar for engagement-driven partnerships, proving that brands must go beyond paid placements to co-create content and experiences that fans genuinely want to interact with. With 1.1 BILLION media impressions, record-breaking sales growth, and massive social engagement, BODYARMOR’s strategy demonstrates the power of seamless integration and fan-first storytelling. This approach will inspire the industry to rethink traditional sponsorships, prioritizing culture-driven marketing, experiential activations, and influencer-led content to build deeper, more meaningful consumer connections.
Objective
BODYARMOR established a partnership as the OFFICIAL HYDRATION PARTNER of BARSTOOL SPORTS in 2023 with the goal of driving household penetration to convert new and younger consumers, retain current fans of the brand, generate increased brand awareness, and amplify BODYARMOR product launches and campaign messaging via Barstool’s immense media platform.
As BODYARMOR’s largest media partner, Barstool Sports has a growing and highly engaged base of younger consumers and features hundreds of beloved brands and personalities across several categories.
Strategy & Execution
To deliver on objectives, we partnered with Barstool to create a customized strategy.
Natural/purposeful always-on content, proving brand immersion into Barstool ecosystem:
- Authentic programming across top sports/entertainment podcasts including #1 Podcasts: Pardon My Take, Spittin Chiclets, and ForePlay.
- Exclusive social/digital content with Dave Portnoy, Dan ‘Big Cat’ Katz, Brianna ‘Plan Bri’ LaPaglia, Jersey Jerry, Frank ‘The Tank’ Fleming.
- ZERO to HIDE campaign:
- Custom commercial and OOH billboard – To support launch of brand innovation, BODYARMOR ZERO Sugar, partnered with Pardon My Take crew to create tongue-in-cheek video content, with supporting OOH placed steps from key competitor’s HQ. Amplified across paid media.
- Custom commercial and OOH billboard – To support launch of brand innovation, BODYARMOR ZERO Sugar, partnered with Pardon My Take crew to create tongue-in-cheek video content, with supporting OOH placed steps from key competitor’s HQ. Amplified across paid media.
- Flash I.V.: To support launch of brand innovation, Flash I.V., created two dedicated/ownable moments for brand to come to life:
- Sponsored Bussin’ with the Boys “Beer Games” AND brought PMT crew to Games via fully-wrapped bus generating viral social content.
- Collaborated with PlanBri to surprise bachelorette party with Flash, keeping them hydrated all weekend.
- 7-Eleven Dollar Days + SportWater
- Custom sweepstakes to support limited SportWater promotion at 7-Eleven, supported with amplification from Dave Portnoy.
Organizations
- BODYARMOR Sports Drink
- Barstool Sports
Links
Featured
- Dave Portnoy
- Dan ‘Big Cat’ Katz
- Brianna ‘Plan Bri’ La
- Paglia
- Jersey Jerry
- Frank ‘The Tank’ Fleming
Credits
Joshua Colfin
Senior Manager, PR & Communications
BODYARMOR
Jon Serventi
Senior Manager, Media Activations
BODYARMOR
Danielle Hughes
VP, Communications
BODYARMOR
Tom Gargiulo
CMO
BODYARMOR
Justin Reyes
Director, Paid Media
BODYARMOR
Federico Muyshondt
CEO
BODYARMOR
Celebrate in NYC
Join us for the 7th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards™ on the evening of June 24, 2025 as we celebrate finalists and reveal the winners of this year's awards live during the show.
