Washington, DC Sport · Social · Creators · Culture US · UK · APAC

Arabella Hibbert-Corkhill

Global sports social media & creator consultant

I build social and creator strategies and award-winning campaigns for brands, leagues, rights holders and athletes. Twelve years across sport, entertainment and culture, from Weibo to TikTok in the US, UK and APAC, with one aim: to reach fans everywhere in a way that feels made for them.

See the work View resume

LinkedIn @arabellahc Email

12⁺Years in sport & culture

Arabella Hibbert-Corkhill含笑

Brands, leagues and rights holders I’ve worked with

Selected work

Work that made an impact

Four of my most successful campaigns across adidas Runners, NFL UK & Ireland, Tottenham Hotspur and Volleyball World, built to connect with fans and deliver measurable results.

01 / 04 — Running community

adidas Runners

Giving communities a stronger voice.

Challenge

A global running community spanning 49 countries and 76 local chapters, but a fragmented communications ecosystem meant much of its local impact was going unseen.

Strategy

A global editorial and communications strategy brought greater consistency and visibility across the network, while giving communities a stronger voice.

Scope

Global comms strategy
First-ever Discord community
With Women We Run
Every Pace Has a Place
First-ever adidas Runners product line

adidas Runners Instagram post, Running Routine for Beginners

Instagram reach, year over year: +400%
Engagement within six months: +22%
Instagram account at adidas, behind only adidas Football: #2
Local chapters, one global voice: 76

Every Pace Has a Place With Women We Run Read the adidas story

02 / 04 — League

NFL UK&IRE

Distinctly British, without losing what makes the NFL, the NFL.

Challenge

The NFL was already a fixture of the UK sports calendar. The challenge: make it feel distinctly British without losing what makes the NFL, the NFL.

Strategy

“A Different League” introduced a new UK positioning and visual identity that moved beyond the traditional red, white and blue across social, PR, broadcast and hospitality.

Execution

The launch partnered with London vintage tastemakers Duke’s Cupboard, bringing the platform to life through creators, social content and the debut of the NFL Origins collection.

Scope

Brand guidelines
Launch activation
Social and creator strategy
Content creation
Campaign strategy

NFL UK and Ireland Instagram post announcing the NFL and Tottenham Hotspur partnership

NFL UK and Ireland Reel from the Duke's Cupboard launch activation

Social reach from the launch party: 14M
Social engagements: 335K
Media circulation: 25M
Launch Reel views, second only to the 2023 Super Bowl halftime show: 508K

Kick-off Reel Launch party Reel

03 / 04 — Football club

Tottenham Hotspur F.C.

A cultural moment, not just a product reveal.

Challenge

Annual team kit reveals have historically struggled to cut through. The 2024/25 launches needed to make each drop feel like a cultural moment, not just a product reveal.

Execution

The creative brought Home, Away and Training to life through three hero films, key visuals and e-commerce content, featuring Son Heung-min, James Maddison, Bethany England, Micky van de Ven and more.

Approach

A social-first approach packed with cultural references and Easter eggs to reward fans, spark conversation and give each launch a world beyond the shirt itself.

Scope

Campaign strategy, creative and development
Key visual and product imagery
Production development and execution

Tottenham Hotspur Instagram Reel for the Steal the Show away kit launch

Tottenham Hotspur Instagram Reel for the Time to Rise home kit launch with Son Heung-min and James Maddison

Home kit views, top 3% of Spurs Instagram videos: 6.4M
Video views, year over year: +76%
Away kit impressions, year over year: +60%
The Drum, for the Away kit film: Ad of the Day

Watch “Time to Rise” Watch “Steal the Show” Read in The Drum

04 / 04 — International federation

Volleyball World

Making the action feel just as alive online.

Challenge

With fans locked out of stadiums for the 2021 Volleyball Nations League due to COVID-19 restrictions, the challenge was to make the action feel just as alive online.

Strategy

A global social, paid and production strategy brought fans closer to the competition, with on-the-ground content built for real-time engagement and market-specific storytelling for audiences in Japan.

Outcome

The result was a more immersive digital fan experience, connecting global audiences to the players, personalities and moments beyond the court.

Scope

Social media strategy
Content creation
Brand development
Graphic design
Content production

volleyballworld

volleyballworld ブラジル vs 日本. Made for fans in Japan.

Digital reach in six weeks: 512M
Engagements across Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and web: 73.5M
Hours of digital watch time: 4.8M
RedTorch #SportOnSocial ranking of Olympic federations: #1

SportsPro coverage RedTorch analysis

Speaking & leadership

On the record

On the business of sport, the rooms where decisions get made, and how global social strategy actually works.

EPISODE

Arabella in conversation on set at the Elevate Collection Podcast studio

Arabella with the podcast hosts in the studio

Arabella holding a microphone during recording

Elevate Collection PodcastOn set

Podcast

Elevate Collection Podcast

The Elevate Collection Podcast documents the business, power and cultural infrastructure behind professional sports and high-trust industries. It explores the rooms where decisions are made, capital moves, and legacy is built.

Watch on YouTube

Title slide from Arabella's NYU lecture, Global Sports Social Media Strategy

Guest lecturer

New York University, Preston Robert Tisch Institute for Global Sport

I teach global sports social media strategy to the next generation of sports business leaders. The session covers:

What global sports social media strategy actually means
How fan behaviour differs from market to market, and platform to platform
Global strategy applied to a live event
How strategic decisions get made under real constraints
Where digital media sits in the economics of sport

Reaching fans everywhere, in a way that feels like it was made for them specifically.

About

Built in Beijing.Sharpened in London.Rooted in DC.

My interest in social media started in 2008, when I moved to Beijing during the Olympics to study Mandarin. Western platforms were being blocked and replaced by an entirely separate ecosystem, and the global brand playbook simply stopped working.

That lesson has shaped everything since: cultural fluency beats translation, every platform needs its own approach, and global scale is won one local audience at a time. Today I work independently with brands, rights holders, athletes and franchises as a strategy lead.

Markets US, UK, EU, APAC, LATAM

Languages English, Mandarin

Lived UK, China, Mexico, USA

2008–2013Beijing Language & Culture UniversityB.A. Mandarin, Economics and TradeBeijing
2014–2017Hot Pot DigitalAccount Manager, China socialLondon
2017–2019BeyondSenior Client ManagerNew York
2020–2021RehabSenior Account DirectorLondon
2021Fifty / 50 SportSenior Digital & Social Account DirectorLondon
2022–2024M&C Saatchi Sport & EntertainmentSenior Social Account DirectorLondon
2024Run Deep / MotherBusiness DirectorLondon
2025Wasserman / The.TeamAssociate VP, SocialLondon
2025–nowIndependent consultantGlobal sports social media & creator strategyWashington

Projects

More from the portfolio

A decade of work across creator programmes, AR experiences, product launches, documentaries, global campaigns, China market strategy, market entry and more, spanning agency and client-side roles.

McCoy's It's Crunch Time video set in a British pub

ReelMcCoy’s × NFL

It’s Crunch Time × NFL London Games

Social content strategy and development for the Official Savoury Snack of NFL UK&IRE: a TV personality and athlete in full NFL uniform, dropped into the most British moments we could find.

Watch the Reel

Reeladidas Running

Peres Jepchirchir

An intimate documentary on marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir, filmed in Iten, Kenya, featuring Haile Gebrselassie and Mary Keitany, 7 athlete toolkits and seasonal adidas Running content.

Watch the film

WeiboTangle Teezer

Tangle Teezer

The brand’s first China social strategy and China-exclusive products helped establish the market as its second-largest globally.

Instagram post of the ATP Creator Summit group at the US Open

PostATP Tour

ATP Creator Summit and White Paper

Shaped the format for the ATP Creator Summit, a workshop that gathered six leading creators nominated by Twitch, TikTok, Meta, Snapchat and YouTube during US Open Fan Week. Authored the white paper and accompanying presentation, setting the standard on collaborating with creators.

PostW Series × PUMA

W Series

2021 social strategy, race-weekend content and community management, alongside account growth and a partnership with PUMA’s #SheMovesUs campaign.

Watch the NYC pop-up

WeiboSophie Hulme

Sophie Hulme

Developed and implemented the brand’s China social strategy, including content creation and a KOL-led Weibo launch. Developed China-exclusive products and delivered the market launch of Sophie Hulme in China.

Read in WWD

Redbreast Unhidden SXSW 2026 Instagram post

PostRedbreast × SXSW

A SXSW × Redbreast five-year film partnership

Film platform planning, partnership, talent and campaign strategy for a five-year film and brand collaboration built to drive fame through cultural relevance.

WeiboWorld Athletics

Tokyo 2020, East and West

Digital and paid social strategy around the Games, plus China-specific brand guidelines, a revived Weibo account and World Athletics’ first WeChat channel.

Contact

Building something fans should care about?

a.hibbert.corkhill@gmail.com

Email me LinkedIn TikTok @arabellahc Resume