One Size Fits None: A Global Take on Sports Social Media with Arabella Hibbert-Corkhill

Gen Z doesn’t fall in love with teams the way older generations did and that’s not a problem, it’s a strategy clue. We’re joined by Arabella Hibbert-Corkhill, a social media strategist whose career spans London, New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and now Washington, DC. That global perspective turns a familiar topic like “fan engagement” into something sharper: culture moves faster than campaigns, and the only way to keep up is to listen harder than you post.

We talk about how China’s internet ecosystem shaped Arabella’s love of social, from the reality of Western platform blocks to the innovation of WeChat and Weibo. If you work in digital marketing, brand strategy, or community building, you’ll hear why platform design and cultural norms change everything, and why “one size fits all” social media strategy is usually a quiet failure.

From there, we get into modern sports marketing and the question every team asks: how do we reach Gen Z? Arabella breaks down passion points beyond the game itself, including fashion, music, food, and creators, plus why collaborations like Nike and Skims can work when audiences truly overlap. We also dig into cultural sensitivity, why some launches backfire, and how loud comment sections can be both a warning and a superpower.

Finally, we unpack NIL and personal branding for athletes, the rise of IRL community, and Arabella’s strongest stance: meet the audience where they are and give creators room to tell your story. If you want smarter social listening, she explains why Reddit belongs in your toolkit. Subscribe, share this with a friend building a brand, and leave a review. What’s one brand move you think Gen Z will never forgive?

Before you go - here are three ways to continue elevating your legacy & connect:

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Remember: Your influence is just the beginning. Your legacy is the destination.

See you soon, where influence meets legacy.

Transcript

Welcome And Arabella’s Global Story

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Welcome back to the Elevate Collection Podcast. We're so excited you're joining us today. And we're excited to announce our good friend Arabella Hibbert Corkill. Welcome to the podcast, Arabella. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

It's great to be here.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

We are so happy you're here you're here, but by the sounds of it, you're not from here. Can you tell us a little bit about where you're from? Yeah, that's right. We know, but did tell them where you're from.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

Yes, so I was born and brought up in London in the UK, and then I've lived in various countries ever since. Lived in the UK, I've lived in New York, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and now um I live in DC. I just moved there recently.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

I don't think I recall Beijing. Do you recall Beijing? Well, I I know that your journey has taken you to four continents. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:18

Yeah, so Beijing, um I moved there in 2008. I was there for nearly five years. I went to college there. And then just stayed afterwards and and kind of worked in in the sort of social media, e-commerce, um, trade arena. Um absolutely loved it. And that's kind of where my passion or love for social media actually started because it's a completely different environment and very different landscape to any other country. Um, so uh yeah, I absolutely loved my five years there.

SPEAKER_01 1:48

So when do you recall your first time, your first interaction personally with social media?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

As a whole, like regardless of As a whole.

SPEAKER_01 1:55

Like, are you coding on MySpace?

SPEAKER_00 1:57

No, no, I it was Facebook. It was definitely Facebook. Yeah, similar time to I have an older brother, he's two years older than me, and he started using Facebook when it was just for college students. Because he was in college in the US. And so it was really just around like the time he was using that that I was getting to know about, know it, and then it sort of opened up to everyone else. So that was my first interaction with social media,

First Social Media And China’s Block

SPEAKER_00 2:20

but then I moved to China. Around that time, Twitter was around, and Instagram, I think, had just started becoming more and more popular, but in China they have their own platforms. The Chinese government don't let any people in China use Western social media platforms. There's a complete internet block for a lot of Western social media platforms. So they develop their own, which are so innovative. The technology is incredible and it always has been. Their functionality is beyond anything that you see on one single platform in the West. And by the West I mean us, like you know. Um, but it was it's just a source of fascination because that's where like cultural differences and cultural nuances come into play and how people actually interact with their own social media platform regardless of where they live.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

So interesting. So tell us about, like Jordan mentioned, you've had a career that spanned four continents. Tell us a little bit about where you started from then on, the platforms, and how you're ending up sitting with us today.

SPEAKER_00 3:27

Yeah, so I when I left China, this is 2013, I was still really interested in the whole concept of how can East meet the West, essentially? How can there be cross-cultural communication um on social media platforms? And when I moved back to London, there was a China-focused digital and social media agency

Weibo And WeChat Brand Playbooks

SPEAKER_00 3:49

that had just popped up. And essentially what they were doing is they were working with brands, say a luxury brand, for example, who would come to the agency and say, Well, we know there are 1.4 billion people in China, we have luxury handbags, like how do we sell to these Chinese consumers in China and around the world? And that's where we came into play. And we're like, well, you know, there aren't 1.4 billion people who are going to buy luxury handbags. But our purpose was to create those social media strategies for those brands using Chinese social media platforms. So there's one called Wayball, the similar was similar to Twitter in terms of microblogging and your kind of 140 characters. Um, and then WeChat as well, which is a kind of combination of say WhatsApp, but a bit of Instagram, but of Pinterest and newsletter almost. Um that's a huge one that's used every day by most people in China. Um and yeah, we just crossed it crafted those strategies. And and from then I realized that I sort of wanted to move into more mainstream social media outside of China. So then I started really working um with other brands at traditional marketing companies and then moved into sports, um, which I'm very happy to be in now. So now I I craft strategies and I advise sports brands and athletes and teams on their social media strategy and how to essentially increase their fan base and do it in a way that's culturally relevant uh for today.

SPEAKER_02 5:27

That's so incredible. How did you know that this was your path?

SPEAKER_00 5:32

It I've just always been really interested in different cultures. I speak a few languages and just the idea of being able to communicate with other people and is just, I don't know, source fascination um for me. And I've loved living living in other countries. Um and and that's where social media really came in. It's it's a form of communication, it's a form of community building across cultures, across borders. Um, and that's that's really what it sort of came came down to in the end.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

Now you've worked for some major brands and some really large companies. Are we able to share any of those?

SPEAKER_00 6:09

Yeah, yeah, sure. From so from the sports side, I've I've always worked at agencies, so I do work across different brands, which I love. I'm a very big advocate of of agencies and not just diving straight into kind of working for a team. Um, but yeah, typically at an agency you work across, say, three, four clients, brands. Um so I've worked with the NFL UK, Adidas, Nike, um a couple of football clubs, yeah. So and then women's motorsport. The the first all women's motorsport series is called W Series. Uh, I worked with them as well. So yeah, it's it's been a journey, but a really exciting one.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Are there any categories that you find yourself pulled more frequently to?

SPEAKER_00 6:52

Um not really. I I think I've worked with most sports, to be honest, at this point, but I'm I'm a fan of Formula One and the NFL. So anytime I can dip my toe into those waters, uh I'm very happy. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:07

How do you find yourself coming up with these campaigns and strategies to create that fan engagement and fan base across multiple sports? Like how do you get your brain into position for the different categories?

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Yeah, it can be a challenge. I think the one thing that almost one string that has threaded every single project I've been on in

From Luxury To Sports Strategy

SPEAKER_00 7:30

the last couple of years has been about how do we reach Gen Z? How do we increase the number of Gen Z fans and what are their interests? Because if we look at trends, we look at data, their consumption habits are very different to millennials and boomers and so on. Uh, and so they have different passion points. And that's a really exciting part of sport for me is increasing the number of fans within the sports team isn't just about people and about sport, it's about fashion and music and food and culture and all of that, um, and understanding kind of where their passion po where their passions lie and how we can bring them into sport that way. Um you know, sports are all very different, their challenges are all very different. Um, and so I I one of the reasons I love working at agencies is because you can take elements of each team or brand or sport and apply it, not in a way that's copy and paste, but you uh start understanding how fans work, um, what their interests are, like I said, um, how they want to view sport, how they want to watch it, what they want to get out of social media. And that's probably going to be the same in kind of most sports when it when it comes to consumption of it.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

So I I love that you you talked about the the fandom and around these different like intersections, right? Bridging into culture and fashion, all of those things. So like collaborations that you see like Nike and Skims, like obviously it's been proven to be incredibly successful. What do you think from a social strategy, why do you think those type of collaborations are successful? Like why do you think that was successful for between Nike and Skims?

Reaching Gen Z Through Culture

SPEAKER_00 9:14

Yeah, it's an interesting one because uh you wouldn't necessarily put them in sort of together, you know. Skims from the beginning was uh essentially contour wear um and it's just transformed into its own category. I mean, it's phenomenal what the the direction the brand has gone in. I think what it's really about what resonates with people, in that if you have a core fan base that has an interest in, say, Kim Kardashian or popular culture or the Skims brand, then there's going to be that natural crossover. Um and so it sort of really comes down to that, like where you sort of have to tap into what the interests are of the fans and go, okay, this is actually really going to work well. It's the same perhaps consumer base, same fan base. Um you know, and you kind of have to find where those overlaps are.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

To be on the same wavelength of like Kim Kardashian now, especially with you having the experience of spanning different continents, experiencing these different cultures. So before Skims, there was kimono. So when she did that brand and it it flopped. What do you believe contributed to that flop

Why Collabs Win Or Backfire

SPEAKER_01 10:30

if she is the fan base? And then I mean, I guess I guess I can say my personal opinion in there anyways, but the the cultural insensitivity is what my perception is that may have contributed to the flopping of the launch of kimono. But what from your perspective and where you sit and your experience with the different cultures and social strategy, where do you think that that then failure came from?

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Yeah, I'm not sure entirely where the the failure came from, but just taking a step back, it is important to kind of have a macro view of what you're trying to launch, what you're trying to achieve, and who you're trying to attract. And I think if there's something that's misaligned between the brand and the target audience essentially, and there are cultural insensitivities that's going to impact how successful a brand is and whether it is a huge success or not.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Do you think Gen Z is more aware of these things? I feel from my where I sit, I think Gen Z is a more informed consumer. Yeah. Where I mean they're not buying toilet paper unless they've done their due diligence, is what I've experienced. Do you see that from a social as far as what they're consuming as well?

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Yeah, absolutely. And they're a lot more outspoken than any other generation. And so if if content, a campaign, a brand collab isn't going to work, it's often because there's a lot of comments, negativity around that. Um so yeah, I I would definitely say that the louder generation in the most positive way. Um, but they're also advocates as well. That's that's the other side. If there's a campaign, or if you just take women's sport, the WMBA, um you know, any women's category, we're allies. We want to kind of leverage and elevate each other. Uh, and then and that's something there's some a lot of passion around that as well. There's something really incredible to see is this kind of generational shift really from just consumption to allyship and advocacy.

SPEAKER_02 12:35

I want to kind of talk about there as we see people in sport want to become founders and investors and business owners. I I think there's a common misconception, and I'd love your opinion on this. Like, I have all of this influence, like a Kim Kardashian, and I can start anything, and my followers will like fall right into it. Whereas we have seen sometimes even in the athlete space,

NIL Reality Beyond Follower Counts

SPEAKER_02 13:00

like that's not the case. You know, I don't need to do marketing. I am the brand, they're gonna buy it because of me. What is your take on that? And how do people who are wanting to use their name image and likeness launch a brand or attach to a licensing agreement or deal and become successful in that space?

SPEAKER_00 13:17

Yeah, NIL is the wild, wild west. Uh it's it's um it it is definitely a challenge to navigate that part um and how to build your personal brand. Uh it's if you're a current professional athlete or a retired professional athlete and you already have a following as in a fan base, then yes, it's always going to be easier for you to get those brand deals in place and to build your following and so on. Coming from it from scratch does take time, it takes consistency, it takes um a lot of consideration around what you're actually trying to achieve, who your audience is, because ultimately if you ultimately you need to speak to people. And if you don't know who you're speaking to, then you're not really necessarily, you might be speaking into a bit of a a cave almost. Um when it comes to brand collabs, it works both ways. They do want to see a following a lot of the time, but at the same time, if your values are aligned with the brand, that's gonna go even further. And also it really depends on the type of followers you have, because if you have say a thousand followers and only one hundred of them are going to help the brand drive the brand forward or convert to sales or something, it's they're not necess those collabs aren't necessarily going to be the most successful. Um, but it is tough. Like, you know, it's it's going moving from this uh sort of arena of I have full control of myself to more like okay, I need to hand that control over to other people. Um, and it is uh yeah, I know a lot of athletes are struggling with that.

SPEAKER_02 15:02

Absolutely. What is your take on the brand new movement that we're seeing in community? Because in 2020 we saw this huge rise of TikTok stars and the influencer, I feel like really took off in 2020. You know, there were people, of course, with influence before that, but now we are seeing everything shift into like in real life events and then the influencers are wanting to own their community. What's your take on what the future of the community looks like? Because I feel like everyone we talk to is like, I'm building a community.

Community Moves From Online To IRL

SPEAKER_02 15:34

My followers are now my community, and and we're doing dinners and we're doing the like how does this community play play out in the social content space?

SPEAKER_00 15:44

Yeah, I love the concept of building a community, whether it's either digitally on social or in real life, and there's an overlap now. Um, certainly in the sport space, what I think is absolutely fantastic to see is people meeting each other on social media, but then taking it offline and cre, you know, organizing events for on like match days or race days or whatever, or even just women getting together and sharing, you know, stories or experiences going to going to sporting events. You I don't think anyone should not build a community. If you have the opportunity to, if you want to, then that's so great. It's good for society, it's good for to stop people from being isolated. Um, whether you're an influencer or not, um, you know, I I just think it's a really positive thing today.

SPEAKER_02 16:35

I just saw a a female creator who um gathered a group of women in her community and they all went to the F1 race together. There we go. And they're like, we want to go watch women and small, you know, women want to go watch F1. Like, let's all go together.

SPEAKER_00 16:47

Yeah, and and that's the thing I was saying about these entry points from fashion to music to uh you know whatever the passion point is. They are women uh and they've you know come together and they have fun at a race. So that's another way to enjoy the sport with you know, like-minded people, with your peers, your friends, your your community.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

On that note, when it comes to community and social strategy, what is the hill that you will die on? That is maybe not as mainstream thought as everybody else. Everyone thinks like you have to do it this way or that way. When it comes to where those things intersect for you, what is the hill that you'll die on? Like you must do this as a part of your your social strategy, regardless of the sport, regardless of the brand.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

Um you must meet the audience where they are. You need to understand who they are and not make assumptions about who they are, because then there's misalignment if you do. That's number one. Number two, I think brands must always

Nonnegotiables Meet The Audience First

SPEAKER_00 17:52

give their power over to creators. Which I know, I know. I love it. I know the reason being is creators, if they have a uh a strong following, a big community, they've built trust with those, with their community. It's not which isn't something you can buy from a brand deal, a paid ad or a sponsorship, or you know, here's my product, sell it. The challenge for brands these days, it's you know, it's gone like traditionally it was like must protect the band, must protect the brand, must protect the brand. But now it what it should be is here is our brand story, you tell it how you see fit. And that's hard. That especially for legacy brands.

SPEAKER_01 18:37

That's a mic drop moment. But these are expensive, so we won't be.

SPEAKER_02 18:40

But I'm so into this because we are seeing the perfect example play out right now. And this is my favorite little social media story right now with um Ashley Furniture who fired the guy who went viral for them, but then Staples had an employee go viral and they've made them a complete ambassador. They sent them a box, they're you know, providing assets for them to film at work, like, and that's just like you're saying, like sometimes you have to throw the corporate policy out the window, and you know, people are literally boycotting Ashley Furniture right now because they fired the employee who went viral at Ashley Furniture.

SPEAKER_01 19:17

And I got him making like jingles for Lenovo. I saw one for Crocs by him today.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

He's everywhere. And I think there needs to be a bit of like relaxation almost. Like, yes, everyone has the brands have their brand values, which they always need to stick to, and you know that that's incredibly important. But then brands can be playful as well. Um, and I think what I love is if a brand makes a mistake and other brands just jump on it and uh and you know make their fun memes or social content and everyone's in the comments and it just makes it a lighthearted moment. Ow.

SPEAKER_01 19:51

Duolingo.

SPEAKER_00 19:52

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:53

Oh my gosh, like Duolingo was so good about that. They had their era or like Wendy's. Wendy's does a lot of that too.

SPEAKER_02 19:59

I love the comment section. And I love to see brands in the comment section. And watching brands comment in the comment section gives me so much more respect for them and leads me to go shop and purchase with them because I'm like, that's a brand that I align with. Yes. And I love to see the authenticity coming through these brands now too.

SPEAKER_00 20:16

Yeah. I one thing when I'm creating a um social media strategy, I always have a look at Reddit because people are genuinely honest in Reddit, and there's an actual conversation, a community conversation, and you get to know a lot about a lot of people, a lot of brands, and what people are actually really feeling. Because, you know, it's not you look at any kind of online media platform, Instagram comments always quoted, Facebook comments always quoted,

Reddit Listening And Brand Authenticity

SPEAKER_00 20:44

Twitter, but very few people go into Reddit where all the conversations are actually happening.

SPEAKER_02 20:50

Okay, I just saw Reddit in Miami at the Possible conference, and they are having a moment right now. First of all, their activation was super cute. I got an incredible sweatshirt from them, and you got to choose like press juices and things like that. But they're coming up with like a whole sports and entertainment community. They've got a whole department for that where you can go in and like taunt sports and entertainment. And truly, the the fandom that lives on Reddit is next level. You can truly talk about anything from a really authentic space. So go off Reddit, do your thing and sponsor us.

SPEAKER_01 21:21

Well, in this season, as you're doing the biggest and the best things in all of the wisdom that abounds for you, what can people do to support you or help move your needle forward as you continue to champion brands and sport and social strategy?

SPEAKER_00 21:38

I am a huge fan of collaboration. So collaborating with new clients on new projects, people in communities, interest

How To Collaborate And Reach Arabella

SPEAKER_00 21:46

in sports. So I'm really up for meeting many more people who want to have like in real life IRL conversations or events and kind of building our own little community.

SPEAKER_01 21:59

How can they reach you?

SPEAKER_00 22:01

Um, I have TikTok now. I've actually started my own TikTok. I know finally. Well, this is the funny thing, is because there are a few of my clients who are like, why isn't this why isn't this on TikTok? Why haven't you started yourself? I can create the strategy, so um, I should do it. So I'm on TikTok. My handle is Arabella H C and also on LinkedIn and all the rest, all the fun stuff. Just include those in the show notes, I promise, y'all.

SPEAKER_02 22:25

Totally. Just a few quick hitters for us. Is there a brand that you are dying to do social strategy for?

SPEAKER_00 22:31

Ooh. Um, I don't know if there are any brands that I've thought about that I want to.

SPEAKER_02 22:37

Or a team or just any project that you're you're gonna be a part of?

SPEAKER_00 22:41

I would love to be involved somehow with the um the indie car race that's happening in DC in June.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

Oh, we can absolutely make that. Sold. Super pumped about that. Okay, we'll we'll make some connections

Form An Opinion Then Build Strategy

SPEAKER_02 22:58

there. And is there one piece of advice that you have to give just anyone out there who's really starting their social strategy?

SPEAKER_00 23:06

Career-wise or just or social strategy? Uh either or both. Okay. Um I would say, well, career-wise, and I always say this to anyone who wants to pivot into the industry, start working in the industry, is formulate an opinion. I love opinionated people. And so if you're looking at culture within sport or community building within sport, have a look at the industry, have a look at the environment and adjacent industries and think, well, where are we now? Where do we want to get to? And come up with an opinion so that when you actually talk to someone about it, they go to and go, okay, that that person knows what they're talking about. I will hire them. In terms of starting a strategy, there's a lot of analysis that always needs to be sort of number one, but also do audience listening, understand what the conversations are within the industry, within the age group, um, within adjacent industries and different age groups, um, but listen to what people are saying before diving straight in. Listen.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

Those are perfect tips. Arabella, thank you so much for joining us today. We can't wait to continue to follow your journey and hopefully watch some incredible things come from all of the amazing work that you're doing.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Maybe be a part of the pit crew, hanging out with the pit crew in the NDCAR very soon. So thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_02 24:33

Thank you.