Rakuten To Power Spartan In New Global Partnership
Rakuten has a powerful new partnership in the sports and endurance world.
Announced this week at Rakuten’s inaugural Rakuten Optimism Conference in San Francisco, Rakuten has entered a global partnership that will make Rakuten the exclusive Global Innovation Partner and “Powered by” partner of Spartan, the world’s largest obstacle race and endurance brand.
“I am excited to have Rakuten partner with Spartan, an organization with a passionate following and one that, like Rakuten, strives to motivate and empower its members and community,” said Rakuten, Inc. founder and CEO Hiroshi “Mickey” Mikitani. “Spartan is an innovator in obstacle and endurance racing and we’re going to work together, leveraging Rakuten technology and services and Spartan’s fervent community, to bring joy to sports fans everywhere.”
“Spartan has worked with Rakuten companies for nearly six years and the company has been a catalyst for our growth,” said Spartan CEO Joe De Sena. “We’re excited to launch an official partnership with such a dominant brand that shares our passion for empowering others, and we look forward to working together to expand our communities across the globe.”
On the subject of empowering others, it’s at the very heart of both Spartan’s philosophy and the Rakuten mission and shared values have been the basis for a number of global partnerships launched by Rakuten in recent years. Partners include the NBA, the Golden State Warriors, FC Barcelona and Shakira’s El Dorado World Tour.
Starting at the Spartan World Championships in Lake Tahoe later this month, the Spartan community will be introduced to the ‘Powered by Rakuten’ designation on all on and offline channels. But the partnership will go much deeper than that. Rakuten will also be powering and upgrading Spartan’s digital communications and community-building by utilizing Rakuten Viber’s Community and chatbot features.
With the partnership debuting at the Spartan World Championship on September 29, Rakuten will drive the race-day livestream on Facebook WATCH. Championship events will also be live broadcasted on ESPN.
With Spartan and Rakuten’s shared values of empowerment, community-building and optimism, it won’t be long until this partnership is exciting fans worldwide.
