Today, WWE Superstar Bianca Belair and WWE Head of Global Sales & Partnerships Claudine Lilien spoke on re-educating fans and potential partners, stressing how important it is in order for WWE to see growth.
Belair and Lilien made their Cannes Lions appearance at Female Quotient’s Equality Lounge, speaking at the digital discussion “Superstar Partnerships: Why Women Hold the Power”.
Moderator Maggie Gray, from WFAN, asked Lilien how WWE finds a new audience, when their brand is already globally recognized.
“I think our biggest thing is getting past the preconceived notion of WWE,” explained Lilien. “There’s such an outdated preconceived notion from what it use to be, many years ago. And it drives me crazy, and I think it’s just kinda knocking it off one-by-one and getting to it client-by-client.”
Lilien continued by saying the best way to reach potential partners is by re-educating them on WWE’s content and image.
“So everything is going the right way, it’s just about us sort of doing our job, the team that I work on, and getting out to clients and re-educating them,” said Lilien. “You look on what’s television today, and you know, it’s not the Hallmark Channel. You look at what’s on cable, you look at what’s on streaming, and all these brands are running their commercials there.
So, the number one thing that’s just like a bee in my bonnet, is like when someone says, ‘Oh, it’s kind of a content issue.’ And that’s something that’s no fault of anyone’s. I take that responsibility on us here, that we need to educate people so that they know what our brand is, because it’s just not ‘that’. It’s empowering, and the athleticism is just off the charts. You watch this and you see what these men and women are doing; it’s mind-blowing, and it’s unparalleled.”
Belair adds that by re-educating fans on how multidimensional female Superstars are, WWE will have an easier time convincing brands and partners to work with the company, further stating that the audience is “already there”.
“It’s about re-educating people, and continuing to educate brands and partnerships about WWE,” stated Belair. “Educating them and showing them that we’re not just these one-dimensional characters in WWE. We’re not just wrestlers. So many times where I’m out in public, someone might recognize me and say, ‘Hey, are you Bianca Belair?’ and then everyone else is like, ‘You’re in WWE? You wrestle? You’re a Superstar? You don’t look like a wrestler.’ What does that mean? We need to change this, and we need to keep pushing it out there and just keep going in the same direction that we’re going.”
Watch the entire discussion featuring Bianca Belair and Claudine Lilien, which explores how WWE uses the power of female Superstars to grow their brand and partnership portfolio, at the YouTube video below, starting around the 6-hour mark.
If used, please credit quote transcription to Bell To Belles.
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