After kicking off their first-ever signed athlete campaign, AMB Ambition concluded their collaboration with football athlete and influencer Phoenix Sproles. The two collaborated by donating 10% of AMB Ambition’s May 2024 sales to Sproles’ former high school, Robbinsdale Cooper High School. Here is what both the company and Sproles had to say about their impactful efforts.

Sproles went in with a prioritized goal in mind. “I want to give something back. I didn’t have a specific number in mind; I just wanted to contribute money in some way, shape, or form. Those kids don’t ask for anything, and to have money go to them without them having to technically work for it—it can go straight to them and help out with jerseys, equipment, accessories, or whatever they may need.”

He shared why AMB Ambition was the right company to collaborate with.

“The relationship I have with them is key, ” shared Sproles. “When you believe in someone or something, you want to do everything you can for them. They drove all the way from Illinois, about a six-hour drive, two or three times, just to work with me. That level of commitment meant a lot to me, especially considering I’m not in the NFL or any professional sport—they took a chance on a 24-year-old football guy and content creator. They brought their team out here multiple times to create content, record for hours, and even interview my family, going the whole nine yards. When I saw that level of commitment, it became easy for me to support them and go above and beyond their expectations, which is just how I operate. If I want to achieve something, I want to do my part and more, especially for future opportunities with companies who may not return if you don’t put in the effort. We have a great relationship where we believe in the same things, share the same vision, and it’s going to help us both grow.”

AMB Ambition made it clear that this campaign was not just business, but personal.

“Getting to know Phoenix’s family through the process was a huge factor in how personal we got, and it helped the story develop because we were able to dig deeper,” shared AMB Ambition. “That was a big part of it—getting to know his family and hometown on a deeper level was key.”

They discussed how the campaign played out over the month of May.

“One thing I can probably speak to is that when you run a campaign, you stick to what’s in your campaign,” shared AMB Ambition. However, “Phoenix, as an individual, goes above and beyond what’s expected. For example, he collaborated on posts and shared stories that he didn’t necessarily have to. That was outside of the campaign itself, and Phoenix still did it. This speaks a lot about him as an individual. He genuinely connects with and is passionate about what he does, and you can really see that with him. He over delivered.”

Sproles is no stranger to putting in his all.

“If I’m working with a company or I want someone to consistently see something, I make sure to post about it at least once every other day,”  he said. That’s something I did with AMB. They sent me still pictures of me working out with their gear on, and I would post those on my story saying, ‘Shop AMB, a portion goes back to help my former high school football team,’ or something similar. I would also feature AMB products on my story. Twitter played a part in it too. Even though they didn’t mention Snapchat, I have a public story where I could reach a lot of people. I posted about it on my public snap, and one time it got 12K views, and another time it reached upwards of 17K views. I saw a lot of screenshots and engagement, so the word definitely got out there.”

As the campaign wrapped up, everyone was happy with the results.

“The campaign went really well,” shared Sproles. “$600 went back to my school, which was just a portion of the sales, so it was a decent turnout. It was really cool; I’m glad Edgar and Katie brought up the idea of making a donation, and Jake helped figure out how I wanted to give back. It was super cool to give back to my high school, my former team, and to show love and that people are thinking of them and want to see them be successful.”

AMB Ambition found this campaign a win.

“The biggest success was watching the reaction of the high schoolers receiving that check,” said AMB Ambition. “Knowing that their former alumni came back to support their community and gave back to where he started was truly heartwarming. I believe their reaction was the biggest success of it all.” They continued, “If you look back at the video, they all look happy, and some people’s faces expressed it all, showing us the feeling of giving back. They were definitely very excited, you could tell. Willie Howard made a comment afterward during the whole speech, saying it was good timing because they were fundraising as a high school that week or that whole month. They were fundraising for new uniforms, so when Phoenix came in and delivered a check, Willie was like, ‘Hey, this speaks volumes. This guy doesn’t even go to school here anymore. He’s gone, he’s done his time, but he still chose to give back here, so you guys keep that in mind.’”

Sproles had the same reaction.

“I think the love and support from the community was amazing. A lot of people shared and commented on the initial post, which was a video, I believe. It started off with a promo video of me on my high school football field, and it received a lot of positive reviews. The video itself did well, I think it got around 30K views or something like that, so it was very successful. That propelled everything, as I mentioned, with people in the community sharing it, along with my family, friends, teammates from North Dakota State, and JMU—all sharing it as well. It was a collective effort, and it worked out really well. Hopefully, we can do something like that again.”

AMB Ambition was inspired by what they did with this campaign, potentially sparking ideas for future donations with athletes.

“I think we want to do this with more athletes,” said AMB Ambition. “At the end of the day, looking at the success and the community being super responsive to it, I think that really helped us. It not only benefited our company but also helped our social media grow a following. We approached it as a learning experience for everyone. The best part was getting so close with the athletes. Phoenix is probably one of the closest relationships we have among all our current signed athletes, and that’s because of this campaign. It was a much more personal relationship. We met his family, went to his high school—there were a lot of deep elements to it that we really liked. This is the kind of stuff we want to keep doing going forward. I prefer this approach over just working with them and sending stuff with a code. It was a lot deeper, and I liked that.” Also adding, “A big thank you to Robbinsdale Cooper High School for allowing us to film in their school, give the check, and be there to see their reaction. I know most companies just send the check and that’s it. It was amazing to be there and experience it, and for them to introduce us as a company.”

Sproles shared his passion for AMB Ambition stating, “I’m going to be in contact with AMB for the long run; those are my guys and girl, Katie.” Also noting his final remarks about the campaign, “Honestly, it felt really good, but it felt good to the point where I was like, ‘Oh, we’ve got to go bigger next time because I know it will have an even greater impact.’ But it felt really good to do that, and when I get to where I want to be football-wise, I know that contribution will be a lot bigger. I know that for sure.”

AMB Ambition concluded with, “Everything went great. It was a fantastic campaign. We had a wonderful time working with Phoenix, as well as with Jake and the agency. Overall, to summarize, it was a great experience.”

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