New York is still in a fever dream over the Knicks’ championship win, but Laney Crowell, founder of clean beauty brand Saie, has been watching the momentum build for a while. “Last season, I was sitting at a game at Madison Square Garden and just looked around,” she says. “The crowd was full of stylish and cool women—groups of friends, mothers and daughters, executives, creators. And then I looked at the brands advertising in that space and almost none of them were speaking to them. There was this huge disconnect between who was actually in the building and who the advertisers thought was there.”
So, as Crowell sat there in the World’s Most Famous Arena, she decided to close that gap herself. Saie became the Knicks’ exclusive beauty partner—and their very first beauty brand partner in the franchise’s history—for the Finals run, doing glam for the players’ wives courtside, partnering with the Knicks City Dancers and showing up in the storied building in a way that felt less like an ad buy and more like actually belonging there.
Why This Partnership—and Why Now
Crowell is quick to explain that this was not intended to be a traditional sponsorship. “It was about stepping into a real cultural moment in a way that felt authentic to who we are. We’ve always leaned into real-life experiences and community, and there’s something about the unscripted, electric energy of MSG that you just can’t manufacture.” Everything about how Saie showed up—sampling in the suites, hosting their community at games—was built around that belief. “All the way through their incredible championship run, everything we did was designed to create moments our community genuinely wanted to be part of.”
The results backed it up. The partnership generated more than 93 million impressions and $404,000 in earned media value. “That proved what I’ve always believed,” she says. “The Saie consumer is incredibly dynamic—she loves beauty, just like she does the arts, and being part of the biggest win in New York City history.”
The Product Born From the Chaos
The partnership didn’t just produce impressions, it also produced the new CitySet. “Basketball is high-stakes, high-sweat and all about the hustle, and that energy is exactly what inspired our award-winning CitySet,” Crowell says. “We literally engineered it to make sure it could survive a high-intensity performance, a fourth-quarter comeback and a humid New York City subway ride—and still look incredible.” The Knicks City Dancers were part of the testing ground: If it could hold through their performances under the lights at MSG, it could hold through anything.
The TikTok Post That Said Everything
If one moment captured what Saie did differently throughout this partnership, it’s this: A creator organically posted on TikTok asking if Saie could get her Knicks tickets. Most brands would have routed that to a PR team, who would have routed it to legal, who would have said no. Saie, on the other hand, launched a full community giveaway within days. “It ended with a personal video from me to the winner,” Crowell explains. “We got 250,000 views and 7,000 new followers overnight.” The speed was the point. “That’s the kind of real-time authenticity people are craving right now, especially as AI becomes more prevalent and human connection feels more precious. The brands that win with this audience won’t be the ones with the biggest logo on the court—they’ll be the ones who actually listen.”
What Comes Next for the Female Sports Fan
Crowell doesn’t mince words about where the sports marketing world is headed. “The female sports fan is a major driving force of the sports economy, and it’s time brands caught up,” she says. “What I’ve learned from building Saie is that consumers don’t want to be advertised at, they want brands to actually show up in culture with them.” Being the brand that kicked off the conversation also, rightfully, really matters to her. “I’m so proud to be the first brand to break that for the Knicks fans as their very first beauty brand partner.”
For Saie, the basketball connection isn’t incidental, it’s philosophical. “Basketball—especially in New York—is high-performance and deeply rooted in community. That’s exactly what Saie is,” Crowell says. “We’ve always told stories about togetherness, and there are very few things that bring this city together the way this game does.”
