How Sequel Tampons Wins Female Brand Trust Through Men’s Sports

WASHINGTON – JUNE 5: D.C. United fans look on against Real Salt Lake during a MLS soccer match on … More June 5, 2010 at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C. (Photo by Mitchell Layton/Getty Images)

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When Sequel, a menstrual care startup, recently signed a stadium sponsorship deal with Audi Field – home of D.C. United men’s soccer – it won’t just slap its name on a scoreboard. It will place free tampons throughout a venue historically associated with men’s sports, recognizing menstruating fans as full participants, not afterthoughts. This isn’t a CSR gesture. It is a strategic move to embed utility and visibility and earn brand trust where it’s long been missing.

The first article of this series explored corporate DEI efforts as they faltered under the weight of overpromising and underdelivering—and how marketing was implicated in exposing that gap. The second introduced a new lens for understanding consumer backlash: the psychology of social threat and reward. The most recent article proposed that the next era of brand trust would be shaped not by ideology, but by how five core dimensions of social well-being are responded to by brands: Connection, Agency, Recognition, Equity, and Security.

Together, these five dimensions form the CARES Framework.

CARES captures how consumers assess brand experiences not only for functional value, but for how they impact emotional and relational well-being. It’s not just about what brands do—it’s about how brands engage with the social threat already present in consumers’ lives. CARES urges marketers to:

• Recognize the social threat consumers feel at the macro (societal), meso (community), and micro (individual) levels;
• Avoid contributing to that threat through brand actions, messages, and omissions;
• Create experiences that actively deliver social reward across five core domains: Connection, Agency, Recognition, Equity, and Security.

How Sequel Meets the Moment

In today’s landscape of hyper-visibility and heightened sensitivity, many brands hesitate to take bold action, fearing the kind of backlash that has sunk campaigns, derailed careers, and diluted missions. Sequel isn’t just avoid triggering threat—it’s meeting the moment with clarity, confidence, and cultural intelligence. By addressing an often-ignored population in a high-profile men’s sports venue, the brand signals a new standard for visibility and relevance.

This moment is also made possible by D.C. United and, more broadly, Major League Soccer—a league that increasingly understands that expanding the fan experience means recognizing, not marginalizing, its full audience. In supporting Sequel’s presence, MLS shares the spotlight and helps create a platform for social reward.

This isn’t just a one-off headline. It is a blueprint for emotionally intelligent branding – an activation of social reward across all five CARES domains. Here’s how:

Connection: “We Actually Recognize That Men’s Sports Have Female Fans”

This quote from Sequel cofounder and CMO Amanda Calabrese captures a long-overdue shift in brand thinking. Female fans have always been in the stands, but rarely acknowledged as core customers. Sequel’s presence in Audi Field doesn’t just say you belong here; it says you always did.

Unlike brands that isolate female fans through pinkwashed marketing or “separate but unequal” experiences, Sequel builds connection through integration – making menstrual care a seamless part of the shared sports experience.

D.C. United’s openness to the partnership reflects a broader shift within Major League Soccer (MLS) toward recognizing all fans, not as niche markets, but as core participants in the culture of the game.

Agency: Performance-Driven Design Over Pink-Washed Packaging

Sequel’s innovation isn’t superficial. Their spiral tampon was designed based on the needs of elite women athletes – optimized for comfort, performance, and movement.

That’s not cause marketing. That’s product empowerment.

Rather than rebranding existing products in pastel colors, Sequel focuses on giving users more control over their physical comfort and experience. This isn’t marketing to women—it’s designing with them in mind.

D.C. United’s decision to give Sequel a platform within MLS reflects an organizational commitment to giving fans – and the brands that serve them – room to operate with dignity and relevance. When leagues remove outdated gatekeeping, they unlock agency for both athletes and audiences.

Recognition: Building Brand Trust Through Visibility

Sequel’s move isn’t about claiming elite sponsorship real estate. It is about recognition – elevating an essential need that had long been overlooked. By embedding menstrual care visibly into the stadium experience, Sequel validated the presence and importance of female fans.

This contrasts sharply with traditional sponsorships that prioritize visibility for luxury goods or entertainment tie-ins. Sequel recognizes that providing for basic needs can be a powerful form of respect – one that turns silent necessities into visible norms.

D.C. United amplifies that recognition by treating Sequel’s partnership as a mainstream, not marginal, part of the stadium experience.

Equity: Fairness as Design Logic

In Sequel’s deal with Audi Field, menstrual products won’t be offered only during women’s games or in separate zones. They’ll be available at every event, for every attendee who needs them.

That signals equity – not accommodation.

When brands and organizations assume the presence and needs of all consumers from the outset, they level the playing field. Fairness isn’t positioned as an extra favor—it becomes basic design logic.

MLS’s role isn’t passive. By enabling equal access across all games—not just women’s matches – D.C. United and the league will institutionalize fairness as a feature of the venue, not an exception for special circumstances.

Security: Removing Stigma, Building Assurance

Events are high-stakes experiences. Whether you’re at a game, concert, or public rally, no one wants to worry about whether basic needs will be met.

By offering free, high-quality menstrual products in public restrooms, Sequel removes uncertainty and potential embarrassment. That’s how brands create emotional safety: not through slogans, but through preparedness.

The fact that a major men’s sports venue, under MLS leadership, embraces Sequel’s integration sends an even bigger signal: you are not an afterthought. Embedding care into infrastructure—not just messaging—helps reduce stigma and build real trust.

When people don’t have to think about whether their needs will be met, they can fully engage in the experience – and deepen their connection to the brand and environment, providing that security.

From Framework to Field Play

Sequel didn’t set out to follow the CARES Framework. But by listening deeply, designing intentionally, and showing up in unexpected places, they demonstrate what social reward looks like when it’s done right.

The brand isn’t performing allyship. It’s practicing utility. It isn’t seeking applause. It’s providing assurance.

This is how brands move from avoidance to action, from relevance to resonance.

Notably, they will do it without triggering backlash. Why? Because the effort is real. Because the product solves a problem. Because the presence felt is earned, not inserted. That’s the difference between building recognition and demanding credit.

Closing: How Sequel Shows that Brand Trust Still Wins

The best brand strategies aren’t built on risk aversion. They’re built on insight, courage, and a commitment to delivering what consumers actually need to feel seen, secure, and respected.

Connection, Agency, Recognition, Equity, and Security aren’t just soft goals. They are hard drivers of trust, loyalty, and growth.

If your brand hasn’t yet mapped how its actions affect each of these dimensions, now is the time. Ask yourself: Where might we be complicit in social threat? Where are we silent when we could be supportive? And where can we go beyond risk mitigation to deliver real, resonant reward?

The CARES Framework offers a practical tool for navigating these questions—not as a checklist, but as a compass. Let it guide your next product decision, your next campaign brief, your next boardroom conversation.

Because the future of brand relevance isn’t neutral. It’s built on brand trust, emotional safety, human connection — and bold moves like Sequel’s that show consumers they truly belong.

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