Black corporate sponsorship of HBCU athletics— that’s a major key.
Black corporate sponsorship of HBCU athletics— that’s a major key.
The Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference has announced a corporate partnership with Walker & Company, the makers of the Bevel Shave System, to showcase the brand as the conference’s official grooming partner.
The partnership will foster co-branded events at SIAC championships, along with special engagements on the conference’s digital and social media platforms.
Officials from both organizations lauded the agreement as a historic alignment between the black-owned company which has attracted more than $33 million in venture capital, and one of the nation’s most popular historically black athletic conferences.
“Our mission at Walker & Company is to make health and beauty simple for people of color,” said Tristan Walker, Founder and CEO of Walker & Company. “Given the SIAC’s ties with historically black colleges and universities, we jumped at the opportunity to partner with the conference as we continue delivering the best products and customer service to people of color.”
The SIAC is the number one historically black athletic conference in the country in social media engagement, boasting more than 35,000 followers across its Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube social and digital media platforms.
In 2010, it became the first NCAA conference at any level to sign an exclusive digital platform deal with Sidearm Sports, a digital media and advertising platform used by more than 60 high school and college athletic conferences nationwide, outpacing NCAA BCS conferences like the Pac-12 and Conference USA, which this year joined as recent signees.
“We are excited to partner with Walker & Company, which is in the vanguard in delivering outstanding grooming products and customer service to people of color,” said SIAC Commissioner Greg Moore. “Six years ago the SIAC Presidents unanimously agreed to create the first digital platform in intercollegiate sports that all member schools share. Partnering with Walker & Company compliments our platform and strategies as we continue to improve the experience for our schools, student-athletes and fans.”
