Beyond the Scoreboard: How the Golden State Valkyries Built a Brand Worth Cheering For

The team is headed into the first Game 7 in WNBA history, with home-court advantage in 'Ballhalla'

As a producer, I’ve spent nearly three decades building creative work for brands, and I’ve learned you can’t manufacture genuine connection. As a Valkyries fan, I’ve watched complete strangers become friends, people of every generation dress up and lose their minds together, and a team becomes something much bigger than basketball. The organization understands the Bay Area, respects its audience and gives people room to make the experience their own. That’s something every brand can learn from.

Here are some points to keep in mind…

Know your community. Don’t just market to it

The Valkyries understand that the Bay Area isn’t a single demographic. It’s a true collection of cultures, generations, histories, and identities, with a strong tradition of self-expression. They don’t try to impose a generic sports identity on that audience. They embrace the character of the place—its LGBTQ+ communities, Asian American communities, women and men of color and its diversity and love of the unconventional.

The brand lesson: Understanding your audience means more than knowing who they are on paper. It’s understanding what they value, what makes them proud, and how they want to be seen.

Respect is an investment, not a marketing message

Team owner Joe Lacob did this well. From the beginning, the organization invested in leadership, players, infrastructure, and the fan experience. The message wasn’t simply that women’s sports deserve support. It was that women’s sports deserve the same ambition, resources, and seriousness as any major professional franchise. And that respect extends to fans. When people feel the organization is taking the experience seriously, they respond in kind.

The brand lesson: You can’t market your way around underinvestment. If you want people to believe in your brand, you must demonstrate that you believe in it first.

Build the space, then let your audience create the culture

The organization created “Ballhalla,” but the fans have helped turn it into something much bigger. The costumes. The tailgates. The signs. The friendships. The rituals. The fan groups. People who didn’t know each other two seasons ago are now genuinely part of each other’s lives. You can’t buy that kind of emotional investment with a media campaign. And more importantly, the organization has made room for it rather than trying to control every expression of the brand.

The brand lesson: The strongest brands don’t own every aspect of their culture. They create the conditions for people to participate, contribute and feel genuine ownership.

Don’t underestimate the power of joy and humor

Professional sports branding often leans toward intensity, intimidation, toughness and winning at all costs. Don’t get me wrong, the Valkyries logo and lore could have easily turned to just that.

The Valkyries absolutely celebrate elite athletic performance, but they’ve also embraced the absurdity, humor, costumes, dancing, and unapologetic enthusiasm of their fans; they let the community bring their silliness.

The Violet Vibes intergenerational dance troupe is a great example of that mindset in action before the first game. It signals that celebration isn’t reserved for one age group or one kind of fan. The Valkyries team clearly designed this intentionally. And the fans have taken that invitation and run with it.

The brand lesson: Brands don’t always have to be cool, polished, or serious to be powerful. Giving people permission to have fun, be themselves, and be a little ridiculous can create a much deeper emotional connection.

Make people feel seen, and they’ll become your biggest advocates

This is related to knowing your market, but it’s an important distinction. Understanding the Bay Area is the strategy. Making people feel that they belong is the result.

Pride celebrations, cultural heritage nights, intergenerational participation and embracing different communities aren’t simply programming opportunities. When done meaningfully, they tell fans that they matter to the organization. The Golden State Valkyries have honored their core fans beautifully. And that sense of belonging creates something far more valuable than a customer who buys a ticket. It creates someone who brings their friends, introduces their family, organizes a tailgate, makes a sign and becomes an ambassador without ever being asked.

The brand lesson: People advocate most passionately for brands that make them feel valued, recognized, and part of something larger than themselves.

Related: What Entertainment Brands Can Learn From the WNBA