Jellysmack scores Francis Ngannou as first partner of its Marquee Program
Global creator company Jellysmack has signed UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou as the first partner of its new Marquee Program designed to help prominent public personalities enter the creator economy by developing and enhancing their social presence.
The announcement:
Just in time for his upcoming first title defence, Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Heavyweight Champion Francis Ngannou, the “Baddest Man on the Planet” and hardest recorded puncher in the world, becomes the first partner to join Jellysmack’s new Marquee Program.
With this deal, brokered by CAA’s Justin Castillo and Marquel Martin with Jellysmack’s VP of Marquee Business, Aaron Godfred, Jellysmack will help the legendary Cameroonian mixed martial arts fighter to create, edit, and distribute original video content across his YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat and more. Jellysmack’s new Marquee Program helps prominent public personalities enter the Creator Economy by developing and enhancing their social presence – and their revenue generating power – across multiple social media platforms.
While the popular Jellysmack Creator Program uses the company’s cutting-edge technology to edit, optimise and distribute creators’ existing long-form videos across social media platforms, the Marquee Program goes a step further. This new offering from Jellysmack gives celebrity partners a full creator content strategy. The company provides financing, facilitates creative ideation, oversees content production, and optimises the end video product to grow a Marquee creator’s personal brand online. Each participating creator will be supported by a team of experts backing their creative development and social content syndication.
This partnership with the MMA champion also represents Jellysmack’s meteoric growth within the combat sports vertical. Ngannou joins Jellysmack’s other well-known combat sports brand partners such as Combate Global, PFL (Professional Fighters League), Karate Combat, and Main Events boxing. In addition to Jellysmack’s powerhouse sports team led by Maxime Horbez, the company’s executive leadership includes Jess Sargus, Head of Business Affairs and a former MMA fighter and professional combat sports manager who provides essential legal support and strategic subject matter expertise to the partnerships.
“I’m thrilled to announce Francis Ngannou as the newest member of the Jellysmack sports family,” says Maxime Horbez, Vice President of Sports at Jellysmack. “In addition to being an incredible athlete, ‘The Predator’ has a story of resilience and self-confidence that echoes Jellysmack’s values and trajectory. He is such an inspiration for all young athletes who aim to do great things.”
Jellysmack ANZ Country Manager, Ezechiel Ritchie, said: “There has been growing fan interest for UFC over the past few years in Australia and New Zealand with local Mixed Martial Arts fighters, Alex Volkanovski, Robert Whittaker, and Israel Adesanya, becoming UFC world champions over the years. Mixed Martial Arts is becoming one of the mostwatched sport genres on social media and we want to make sure to distribute the best of it to our audience globally, including Australia and New Zealand.”
For Ngannou, the experienced Jellysmack team played an important role in the partnership. “I am so thrilled about this collaboration with Jellysmack,” he said. “I have always wanted to explore new creative outlets for my fans, and I’m excited to be able to do that and even more with such a talented group of people.”
Much like the Creator Program, Jellysmack’s Marquee Program builds and monetises creators’ social channels in record time with no out-of-pocket costs to the talent.
Personalities in Jellysmack’s Marquee Program retain ownership of all their content. Jellysmack works closely with each partner to ensure their ideas, videos, and edits are aligned with their personal brand. The end result is a world-class social presence that increases global reach, generates advertising revenue, and connects and strengthens their bond with fans no matter what social platform they are on.
“Francis has been looking for a way to create more high quality and entertaining content for his fans, and the Jellysmack Marquee Program is the ideal solution,” says Martin, Ngannou’s agent. “The collaborative structure of the program combined with Jellysmack’s ability to handle multiple social platforms means that Francis can enhance his personal brand while being efficient with his time—something that’s essential given his gruelling training and travel schedule.”
Horbez continued: “Working alongside the UFC champion is a reflection of Jellysmack’s strategy to embrace Gen Z’s growing appetite for combat sports. Mixed Martial Arts will be one of the most-watched content genres on social media for the foreseeable future, and we want to make sure to distribute the best of it to our amazing audience. We will develop exciting video content hand in hand with Ngannou to give fans an insight into the daily life of one of the most exciting athletes in the world.”
Souce: Third Avenue media release
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topics
Ezechiel Ritchie
Francis Ngannou
Jellysmack
Marquel Martin
Maxime Horbez
Ultimate Fighting Championship
ustin Castillo
