For Brands
The evaluation is free.
The commercial opportunity comes after it.
ESS doesn’t charge brands to be evaluated. The evaluation is editorial — free, independent, and not influenced by commercial relationships.
What ESS sells is access to an audience that trusts the evaluation. That trust is built because the evaluation isn’t for sale. Brands that understand this, Momentous-level supplement quality, Hyperice-level recovery hardware, WHOOP-level performance tech, are the ones worth talking to.
The Sequence
How the Commercial Relationship Works
01
ESS evaluates the product.
Editorial. No fee. The same four-criteria process that governs every tool in the database. Evidence Strength, Professional Adoption, Value for Serious Amateurs, Honest Limitations. The evaluation is not for sale and cannot be accelerated by spend.
02
If it earns a “Moves the Needle,” the commercial conversation starts.
A Moves the Needle verdict is the credential. It tells athletes, coaches, and agents that this product passed a real evaluation. That credential is what makes a commercial relationship with ESS worth anything, to the brand and to the audience.
03
Three ways to build on that credential.
Sponsor the newsletter to reach the audience. License the badge to use the credential in your own marketing. Commission a category deep-dive to own the conversation around your product type. All three are disclosed. None of them change the Verdict.
Who You Reach
The ESS Audience
High-intent, research-mode buyers. These are athletes and professionals who read an evaluation before they spend, not scrollers who impulse-buy from a story ad.
Pro Athletes
Post-college earners spending signing-bonus and salary money on performance tech, recovery, and financial products. They influence teammates and family.
College Athletes (NIL Era)
Brand-conscious and highly online, with real NIL money on the line for the first time. Buying supplements, recovery, and the tools that build their name.
Sports Parents
Primary purchase decision-makers for youth and college athletes. Researching recovery, nutrition, and finance with HSA/FSA dollars.
Agents & Advisors
High-trust recommendation sources across every sport. An advisor who trusts ESS recommends ESS-vetted products to clients by name.
Coaches & Trainers
Coaches and performance trainers at every level, from youth and high school to college and pro. They shape what athletes and programs actually buy: recovery, training tech, film, and development tools.
Athlete Creators
Athletes building content brands and monetizing their name. They buy the tools that make content faster and look professional.
Commercial Options
Three Ways to Build on the Credential
All three require earning the evaluation first. The Insider is the exception — brands outside the database can sponsor if the product fits the audience.
Insider Sponsorship
Per-issue or quarterly package · One sponsor per issue
Your product, in front of the audience that trusts the evaluation.
A single native placement in The ESS Insider, the weekly brief covering performance tech, NIL, athlete finance, and agent tools. Written in ESS voice, contextually positioned, clearly disclosed. One sponsor per issue. No banner slots. No templated copy.
What’s included
Sponsored section in one weekly issue
Native copy written in ESS voice
Disclosed as a sponsored placement
Full subscriber list reach
Category exclusivity available
Quarterly packages available at reduced per-issue rate
Best fit: brands already in the database, and brands targeting the same audience regardless of database status, financial platforms, NIL tools, equipment companies.
The rule: Sponsoring the Insider does not affect database Verdict. A sponsored brand with a “Skip It” keeps it.
ESS Recommended, Badge License
Annual license · Only available to products with an active “Moves the Needle” Verdict
Use the credential in your own marketing.
Products that have earned a Moves the Needle verdict can license the ESS Recommended badge for use in their own advertising, packaging, and website. Third-party credibility, built on a real evaluation, in your own channels.
What’s included
ESS Recommended badge (digital, print-ready)
Right to use in paid ads, owned channels, and packaging
Linked verification page on ESS
Annual renewal tied to active “Moves the Needle” status
Removed automatically if Verdict changes
Best fit: brands with strong retail presence or paid media budgets who want a credible third-party signal. Supplement brands, recovery hardware, wearables.
The rule: Only available while the product holds an active “Moves the Needle” verdict. License is revoked, not renegotiated, if the Verdict changes.
Sponsored Category Content
Scope-dependent · Custom brief required · One sponsor per piece
Own the category conversation.
ESS publishes a long-form category breakdown, a buyer's guide, a full category comparison, a year-in-review, and a single brand sponsors the piece. Written honestly to ESS editorial standards, disclosed clearly, indexed for search, promoted through the Insider on publish. For brands playing a longer game than a single newsletter slot.
What’s included
Original long-form piece (1,200–2,500 words)
Disclosed as sponsored content
Linked from relevant database entries
Insider promotion on publish
SEO-structured and permanently indexed
Content brief developed collaboratively before writing
Best fit: brands entering a crowded category, or established brands who want to define how athletes understand their product type. Fanatics, financial platforms, NIL infrastructure.
The rule: ESS writes to inform the reader, not to sell the product. Content that reads like a press release doesn't get published under the ESS name, regardless of what's been paid.
Rates are provided on inquiry and vary based on subscriber count, package length, and category exclusivity.
Offer ESS+ Members an Exclusive Deal
ESS+ members are high-intent buyers who trust the evaluation. Give them a discount code or exclusive offer and it goes in the member Deal Vault and the weekly email, in front of exactly the people already looking to buy. You supply the offer; ESS handles the distribution. It’s one of the lowest-friction ways to reach this audience, and it doesn’t depend on holding a Verdict.
Offer a Member Deal →Non-Negotiables
What ESS Won’t Do
These aren’t disclaimers, they’re what makes ESS worth partnering with. The audience trusts the evaluation because the evaluation isn’t for sale. Compromise that once and there’s nothing left to sell.
Sell a Verdict.
The evaluation is editorial. No amount of spend produces a “Moves the Needle” that wasn't earned. This is not a policy exception, it's what makes the “Moves the Needle” worth anything to a brand in the first place.
Evaluate products for a fee.
Charging for evaluations creates a conflict that can't be managed. The evaluation is free. The commercial relationship, if there is one, comes after it.
Run undisclosed arrangements.
Every Insider sponsorship, badge license, and piece of sponsored content is labeled. No buried disclaimers. No native placements that read like editorial.
Allow sponsorship to accelerate database placement.
Evaluation queue is editorial. Spending more does not move a product up. A brand in the queue is in the queue.
License the badge to a product without a “Moves the Needle” Verdict.
Badge licensing is only available while the “Moves the Needle” is active. If the Verdict changes, the license is revoked, not renegotiated.
If your product earned a “Moves the Needle,” the conversation starts here.
Send a note with your brand name, the product category, and which commercial option fits what you’re trying to do. ESS responds within 48 hours with a straight answer on fit.
Not in the database yet? Browse the evaluations to see where your category stands. If your product should be in there, the evaluation request goes to the same address.
For evaluation requests (not commercial partnerships), use the same address with “Evaluation Request” in the subject. The two queues are separate.