Stop chasing fans: Five ways brands can earn a place in fandom

As sports fans gear up for another epic weekend of live events, from the hotly anticipated Super Bowl to the Winter Games in Milan, social feeds will be lively as ever with reactions, highlights, memes and more.

In and among all the noise, brands will be vying for attention in an attempt to tap into the magic of global fandom. But in today’s cluttered online spaces, where content is overflowing and attention spans are low, fans are more adept than ever at spotting what feels like a sales pitch. The challenge for brands isn’t visibility; it’s credibility.

In this environment, brands need to show up in ways that feel culturally, emotionally and creatively relevant. That doesn’t mean abandoning the fundamentals or being afraid to put your brand forward, but it does mean rethinking how and why you do it.

Fandom isn’t a marketing tactic, it’s an emotional state. It’s shaped by culture, fueled by identity, and when it’s respected, it becomes contagious. Brands that understand this don’t force their way in; they earn their place.

That all comes down to how, where and why a brand shows up. Here are five ways that brands can foster a genuine and engaged fan base.

1. Don’t skip the basics

Traditional sponsorships and brand placements still play a vital role in the world of fandom, so first and foremost it’s important to get them right. Billboards, perimeter boards, websites, posters and merch still carry credibility and scale. Consistency across these touchpoints builds awareness and trust.

But the mistake is assuming that this is enough. The real opportunity lies in what you layer on top. The storytelling through digital content gives those assets extra meaning. The basics get you noticed, but creativity is what gets you remembered.

2. Don’t worry about fame

There’s a persistent myth that only household-name brands can tap into fandom. In reality, fans will connect with any brand if the story resonates with them.

Take Midea, a home-appliance brand and long-term partner of Manchester City FC. Instead of forcing brand fame, it invested time in understanding fan culture, finding natural ways to join the conversation. The brand created playful, humorous content with its ambassador, Erling Haaland — the Norwegian professional footballer who plays as striker for Manchester City, widely considered one of the best players in the world. Rooted in familiar, everyday experiences — doing the laundry, cooking for the family and so on — the content remains branded at its core, but because the context feels right, it makes it watchable and shareable.

Surface-level branding rarely works in fandom. If the setting is wrong, no amount of logo placement will save it. Fans can sense when something doesn’t belong, and they’ll switch off.

3. Connecting with passions

Fans don’t connect with logos or performance stats, they connect through culture. They want to see the human side of brands and the shared passions they can unlock.

Music, gaming or fashion, for example, can be more powerful points of connection than traditional endorsements. Brands should ask how they can authentically align with the cultural worlds their fans care about. Sometimes that’s a collaboration with another brand or influencer; sometimes it’s tapping a cultural trend that resonates in the right moment. But always be mindful of not crashing the party with content that feels inauthentic or try-hard — audiences will see it coming a mile off.

Endorsements still have value, but they can’t do the heavy lifting alone. Passion creates engagement.

4. Expand audiences, don’t alienate them

Fans share emotional connections, but they aren’t a single, homogeneous group. They span platforms, geographies and generations — and they behave differently across all of them.

Take the Super Bowl. Its viewership is vast and diverse. The fan staying up late to watch live is not the same as someone catching highlights on YouTube the next day. One might be a hardcore fan of 20 years, the other could be a recent recruit. Reaching both requires different narratives and content tactics.

Effective digital content flexes for local, global and younger audiences, particularly on emerging platforms. When brands acknowledge these differences, they avoid the trap of assuming all fans live in the same place or consume content in the same way.

5. Let go of going viral

Once you forget about ‘going viral’, you’re free to make content that actually works, and ironically that’s when you’re most likely to blow up on social.

The most successful fandom-driven campaigns don’t chase virality, they chase feeling. They start with a core brand truth, something people can relate to and see themselves in. From there, it’s about nailing the creative. When your starting principles are right, the creative should flow naturally from it.

The question shouldn’t be “How far will this travel?” but “What will people feel when they see it?” Joy, nostalgia, pride, connection — those are what fans respond to.

Letting go of “virality” frees brands to make braver, more effective work. When you stop chasing the algorithm, you start connecting with fans.

Fandom is a mindset, not a tactic

Being a fan is emotional, irrational and deeply human. Fans are open to brands that support the teams, stories and worlds they care about, but they won’t tolerate being bombarded with in-your-face advertising.

Earning a place in a fandom requires brands to unlearn some ingrained advertising instincts and think more carefully about where they belong, how they show up and what value they add.

Respect fandom, and it will reward you with attention and trust.

The question isn’t whether your brand belongs in fandom. The question is whether you’re willing to earn your place.

This op-ed represents the views and opinions of the author and not of The Current, a division of The Trade Desk, or The Trade Desk. The appearance of the op-ed on The Current does not constitute an endorsement by The Current or The Trade Desk.