NBCUniversal and Visa are teaming for an ambitious marketing partnership that will connect the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics with the Super Bowl though content produced by sports-centric creators Allison Kuch and Isaac Rochell, a former NFL player.
The pair, known as Allie and Isaac, will be flown this week by NBCUniversal to the Winter Games in northern Italy, as well as to Levi’s Stadium in northern California for the Super Bowl on Feb. 8. Kuch and Rochell, who are married, will produce content that is aimed to capture major moments of both events, as well as behind the scenes glimpses and personal stories of athletes going for the gold in Milan-Cortina and the Lombardi gold in Santa Clara. The effort with the popular creators is part of NBCUniversal’s effort to amp up its “Legendary February” promo campaign to viewers emphasizing that it has the Super Bowl and the Winter Olympics in the same short month.
The content produced by the duo known as Allie and Isaac, who are married, will run almost entirely on social media and digital video platforms. It will be distributed not on NBCUniversal’s linear platforms by via the social and digital platforms of NBCUniversal and Visa and potentially other partners. The deal marks another evolution for television advertising as it is a marketing deal not tied to traditional metrics or time spans.
Rochell is a former NFL defensive end who retired after seven seasons in 2024. Allie began sharing their life together on social media – which expanded with a daughter, Scottie Bee, and the couple has another baby on the way. What began as Allie expressing her life as the spouse of. a professional athlete has evolved into a vocation that has put the couple on the radar for marketing and endorsement deals. The duo previously worked with NBC Sports at the Kentucky Derby in May.
“it was an opportunity to really create some connective tissue across each of the moments and to tell different stories, but through the lens of a creator. That’s really where we think the perfect marriage is with Allie and Isaac coming together,” said Karen Kovacs, president of advertising sales and partnerships for NBCUniversal. “On behalf of the NBC they’re really bringing this narrative to their their community, and it’s exciting. The two of them really making that unique and authentic storytelling, combining culture and sports, their audience, that’s really an exciting opportunity for both visa and NBCU.”
Kuch and Rochell will have an all-access pass to two of the biggest sporting events in the world. They plan to bring their typical you-are-there POV on the events. Kuch is particularly interested in probing the human stories behind each high-achieving athlete.
“I think what people connect with most is honesty. I’ve always shared the behind-the-scenes reality of life in sports and the emotions that com The Olympics are filled with those same layers,” Kuch said. “There’s so much heart behind every athlete and every family there. I’m excited to bring that same perspective to this setting and highlight the human side of the Games that viewers might not always get to see.”
Visa is counting on Kuch’s touch on social media to amplify big moments at both events and to tap into the ever-growing creator economy.
“We feel incredibly grateful to NBC for trusting us with something as meaningful as the Olympics. To be invited into a space like this as storytellers is really special, and we don’t take that lightly,” Kuch and Rochell said. “Opportunities like this remind us how powerful media can be in bringing people closer to moments they might not otherwise experience. We’re just excited to be a small part of that and to continue learning from a team that does this at such a high level.”
Karen Kovacs notes that NBCUniversal in 2024 established a Creators Collective around the Paris Summer Games that yielded a tidal wave of content that added to the buzz around the Games.
“We’ve been collaborating with these creators in their ecosystem for the last few years, and it’s really exciting to see it come to life in a bigger way in Milan. But we feel like you and I have been talking about some of also the non sports way this comes to life for us,” Kovacs said. “You know, we we really see the power of these creators across the whole universe. So whether it’s through entertainment or Bravo, it’s really influencing how we are developing programming, how we are going to market with with our partners.”
(PIctured: Allison Kush and Isaac Rochell at the 2025 Kentucky Derby)
English (US) ·