Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski has turned his football career into a major broadcasting gig and several brand partnerships. And this week, the former NFL star opened up about how injuries led him down the path he’s on today.
Speaking on a panel at ADWEEK House during Advertising Week in New York on Tuesday, Gronkowski noted the impact of injuries on his career: “Injuries kind of shaped my whole entire life. It really has,” Gronkowski said. “It shaped my football career. It shaped who I am now.”
Gronkowski had numerous major injuries during his 11-season NFL career, including fracturing his arm, tearing his MCL, and undergoing multiple back surgeries. The former NFL star said injuries taught him a stark lesson: “Without getting injured, I would never know what it’s like to be knocked down. I started understanding the body more as well.”
According to Gronk, getting hit on the field can lead to players overcompensating to make up for their bodies shutting down, which ultimately leads to more injuries. The reality led him to learn more about recovery, which is a sentiment pro women’s football player Lois Cook of the DC Divas echoed.
“You got to think about the recovery after a game. We call it Mack Truck Monday,” Cook said, adding, “I want to last in this game, and I want to be able to walk off of the game on my own terms.”
For both athletes, injuries and recovery shaped their approach to partnerships today.
“You take a massive hit, it’s shutting down in that area, no matter what. So how do you wake up everything? That’s why I believe where I’m at now, because I was at that stage before,” Gronkowski said. “I’m understanding how to wake up the body parts again that got demolished on the field throughout the surgeries, and then, boom, it has led to marketing things.”
Among those marketing opportunities, both Cook and Gronkowski have struck partnerships with DNA Vibe, a company behind multi‑mode regenerative wearables. The pair not only use the product, but Gronk also recently starred in an ad for the company alongside DNA Vibe CEO Perry Kamel.
Besides recovery, the athletes were also drawn to the company through its purpose and values. Earlier this year, DNA Vibe announced it deployed what is believed to be the first fully operational civilian assembly facility in an active conflict zone in Ukraine.
“There are people in Ukraine that are struggling—moms, dads, kids being injured while having dinner, and young men and women coming back from the front. How could we not?” Kamel said about bringing the facility to a conflict zone. “I would say purpose is extremely powerful.”
Throughout the panel, the athletes and marketers noted the importance of purpose and authenticity in everything from the brands they work with to customer interactions.
“The transaction is just the beginning of an entire journey that gives you purpose for what we’re all doing every day,” Jeanniey Walden, chief marketing officer, Fluent, said.
See the full ADWEEK House panel here:
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