PPA National Brand Expansion
Scaling the PPA from a niche sport to a $25M+ household name with a 20% lower CAC than benchmarks.
Overview
The Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) faced the challenge of transitioning a niche hobby into a mainstream professional sport. With a requirement for immediate returns on a scaling budget, the strategy had to perform across two distinct fronts: driving spectator ticket sales and increasing player registrations for tournaments. We needed to build brand equity while maintaining a strict focus on conversion. To achieve this, we deployed a creative flywheel approach, leveraging high-volume short-form video across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. This created a unified ecosystem where paid and organic content worked together to build a "household name" presence.
Results
Our digital marketing support was a key driver in scaling the PPA from a sub $10M brand to a valuation exceeding $25M. The creative strategy was highly efficient, with paid assets consistently delivering a Cost Per Acquisition (CAC) 20% better than industry benchmarks. This rapid digital growth and increased brand dominance provided the leverage necessary for the PPA to consolidate the market, eventually leading to a historic merger with the MLP (Major League Pickleball). This expansion solidified the PPA as the premier professional tour, backed by a $75 million investment to further professionalize the sport and increase player payouts.
Conclusion
Turning a niche interest into a national phenomenon requires an aggressive creative engine that balances performance with brand building. By prioritizing high-engagement short-form video and maintaining a low CAC through constant iteration, we provided the PPA with the financial stability and market presence to scale rapidly. The successful consolidation of competing tours serves as a testament to the power of a dominant digital presence. This partnership proved that with the right creative flywheel, a sport can move from the sidelines to the center of the national conversation in record time.
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