Social Rocket
CarMax is building its WNBA sponsorship 2026 more clearly as a creator program. CMO Sarah Lane explained in the current "Speed of Culture" conversation with ADWEEK that this year's annual sessions for players have shifted from classic media training towards influencer training and building their own social media brands.
The move is notable because CarMax is not treating athletes merely as testimonials or advertising faces. The brand is investing directly in their ability to build their own communities, formats and reach.
From media training to creator training
When CarMax 2023 became a WNBA Changemaker, annual Player Media Sessions were already part of the package, according to the official announcement. They were meant to support players in building their personal brands through media training, networking and content production.
2026 CarMax has shifted this focus, according to Lane. Instead of primarily training classic interview and media work, the emphasis is more on how players use their own social channels, develop personalities and can appear as influencers.
As an example, Lane names Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, who have built a large social community as StudBudz with behind-the-scenes content around basketball itself. CarMax later also brought the two on board for its own crossover content around the NWSL. The mechanism behind this: the brand observes existing fan and creator culture and tries not to artificially copy successful formats, but to work with the people behind them.
A similar approach can be seen in other sports campaigns. Lowe's now deliberately treats NFL stars like macro influencers, while Factor extends its Serena Williams partnership with UGC and social content.
Sports sponsorship becomes creator infrastructure
For social media marketing, this shift matters more than any single sponsorship case. Athletes now own their own distribution channels, communities and brands. In the conversation, Lane points out that many players in particular had to actively build their personal brands, because the economic conditions in women's sport have long been significantly different from those in the large men's leagues.
CarMax is therefore not just trying to buy reach. The Changemaker program supports players in building that reach and is meant to enable more authentic collaborations as a result.
The traditional division of roles is thus changing: a brand no longer just buys logo presence or a commercial spot, but invests in the creator ecosystem around the sport.
CarMax combines paid media and creator logic
That this approach does not run in isolation is shown by CarMax's 2025 launched "Wanna Drive?" campaign. The brand signed WNBA star Paige Bueckers and NBA player Donovan Mitchell on a long-term basis and ran the campaign not only on classic sports TV, but also across YouTube, Meta and TikTok.
CarMax consistently emphasizes the personalities of the athletes rather than using them merely as interchangeable testimonials. This is also relevant for contract design: when brands want to extend content across multiple platforms and paid channels, usage rights and paid usage quickly become a central cost and negotiation point.
The effect can be measured, at least in part
For its partnership with Gotham FC, CarMax cites concrete results. According to the company, its annual marketing support contributed to 2025, among other things, 27 percent more social media followers, 67 percent higher average home game attendance, and a doubling of season tickets since 2023. At the same time, CarMax's unaided awareness as a partner among Gotham fans rose by 36 percentage points, according to fan data published by the brand.
The figures come from the CarMax Media Center and relate to Gotham FC, not the WNBA. However, they show why brands increasingly treat sports partnerships as long-term community and content systems rather than purely as sponsorship space.
What marketers can take away
The interesting part of the CarMax model is not that athletes are now called "influencers." What matters is that the brand connects talent development, social content, paid media and sponsorship in one system.
For other brands, this leads to a clear principle: if you work with athletes or creators, don't just buy reach. It can be more valuable to support formats and skills that help partners build their own community over the long term. The stronger their personal brand becomes, the more valuable the collaboration can become too.
However, this only works if the collaboration respects the creators' independence. If every punchline, post and format is controlled too tightly, you lose exactly the cultural authenticity that makes such partnerships attractive.