Morgan Stanley is sponsoring a new docuseries to air on the ESPN television platform, focussing on the career of tennis star Serena Williams.
The US banking giant has partnered with ESPN studios for eight episodes of the documentary – called “In the Arena” which looks at Williams’s personal life, professional achievements and her status as a role model for younger women.
The series, which was premiered at the Tribeca Festival in New York, is available to view from today (10 July 2024) on the ESPN+ platform.
The bank’s latest sponsorship follows a broadening of the company’s marketing activities since the arrival of chief marketing officer Alice Milligan, from the bank’s E-Trade division in 2021.
In media interviews, Milligan has expressed her desire for the bank’s marketing to better represent the company’s core values.
Other recent partnerships include with the Women’s Tennis Association, The Players’ Golf Championship and fashion events with The Met Costume Institute.
While the bank has broadened its sponsorship and activation programme, it has also simultaneously broadened its content insights platform, with sections dedicated to diversity and inclusion, sustainability and tech disruption in additional to the more traditional areas of market trends and personal finance.
Across all subsidiaries, Morgan Stanley committed US $898m to marketing and business development in 2023, according to its financial report, down $5m on the previous year, but substantially higher than the $643m it spent in 2021.