Your next buzz marketer

Written By Dakota Crawford

I’ve worked with athletes for a decade, from high school underdogs to Olympic medalists, WBNA veterans and NHL rookies.

I’m excited to help Apple generate buzz by leveraging the biggest moments in sport and culture.

1. I helped elite athletes grow their social presence

I grew the NHL’s Player Publishing program from zero to 6M+ views.

My secret was working directly with athletes to bring their personality into fan feeds:

2. I’m an outside-the-box, creative go-getter

I created buzz with NIL Dream Deal, a content series that both drove SaaS business results and shows my understanding of making the most of cultural sports moments:

  • It helped 20 athletes land $5,000+ in NIL deals

  • It racked up thousands of views for MarketPryce’s social channels

  • It tallied earned media like this from The Herald-Dispatch

As MarketPryce’s Founder and CEO puts it: “Give (Dakota) an inch with an idea, and he’ll turn it into a full-blown execution.”

3. I’m comfortable in the room with athletes

As a player in the Name, Image and Likeness space, I helped the hoops teams at Arizona and UCLA, among others, execute fun, sharable brand partnerships.

4. I understand the allure of sports culture

I learned early in my career that people care about people. Instead of writing about another tough loss when I covered the Indiana Fever, I asked about the newborn lifting spirits in the locker room.

DeWanna Bonner and Candice Dupree were kind enough to share with me their journey as mothers during a WNBA season. This story still gets thousands of SEO views.

MP brand fans? Yes. 

5. I’m versatile: A writer who they let download Adobe

“Whether it's strategy, branding, copywriting, content creation, or marketing, Dakota consistently delivers with precision and creativity.” - Lindsay Calabrese, Brand Partnerships & Culture Director, Team One (and former MarketPryce teammate).

I’m a writer first. I cut my teeth in newsrooms, where I covered basketball stars fighting through mental health challenges and WNBA moms raising newborn twins.

After joining the NHL’s social team, I taught myself photoshop from the IKEA bed that made my one-room, short-term Airbnb on the Upper East Side a home. The learning curve was steep but I eventually built enough skill to design the league’s Stanley Cup Champion graphics in 2021.

Sports is the constant through my career and I have a proven ability to learn and adapt on the fly to make the most of any assignment.

6. I’ve created a lot of sports buzz

There’s a science to understanding sports moments and how they’ll tie into the cultural zeitgeist. I’ve trained these muscles for a decade, helping NHL rookies capitalize on draft day, celebrating IndyCar wins, making the most of retirements, championships and everything in between.

  • I’ve created viral TikToks for NHL players:

@trevorzegras bold strategy 🤝 @Zac Bell ♬ original sound - Trevor Zegras

  • I’ve edited hype videos:

  • I’ve managed content calendars and written day-to-day copy:

  • And I’ve designed graphics:

Dakota Crawford