Musikindustrijätten Roc Nation har på senare år slagit sig in alltmer i sportvärlden med filialen Roc Nation Sports och nu försöker man även expandera inom fotbollen. Det senaste initiativet är att signa Manchester Uniteds engelska anfallsstjärna Marcus Rashford, som på många sätt är en logisk profil att knyta till sig.

Nyligen fick han stor uppmärksamhet för att ha lanserat ett initiativ att ge mat till barn i fattigdom och skrev ett välformulerat brev till Storbritanniens regering, som senare ledde till att man omprövade beslutet att ställa in matkuponger under sommaren på grund av covid-19.

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‪An Open Letter to all MPs in Parliament…‬ ‪#maketheUturn ‬ ‪Please share and tag your local MPs

Ett inlägg delat av Marcus Rashford (@marcusrashford) 14 Jun 2020 kl. 4:01 PDT

Dealen med Roc Nation ska ha signerats redan i april, men har först nu blivit officiellt. I ett uttalande säger Kelly Hogarth, Roc Nation Sports varumärkesstrateg och affärskommunikatör:

“We look for those figures who stand for something beyond just the sport that they play. What he did transcended race, transcended any social unrest that we’re experiencing. This was a 22-year-old young man who was saying: ‘No child should be going hungry in this country. That is unacceptable.’ Even if you were the meanest person in the world, it was an argument you just couldn’t fight against. He was able to resonate with so many people by just being himself.”

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Shawn "JAY-Z" Carter and Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford, photographed while at Super Bowl LIV, which was held this year at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida on February 2. Hov is wearing a Planes Crown and a Gucci windbreaker; and has a platinum Patek Philippe Sky Moon Celestial timepiece ($311,860) on his left wrist. After having an informal meeting with Jay and other Roc Nation Sports executives during the game, Rashford officially signed with RNS in April. The agency is now in charge of his public relations and marketing. Hov had reportedly had his eye on signing the striker since 2016. Recently Rashford received the admiration of the United Kingdom population as he forced the English Government into recalling their decision to discontinue a meal voucher scheme that provides free school meals across the nation once the term ended. Now, over the two-month summer break 1.3 million children who are eligible will receive free meals to help alleviate any hardship caused by the current pandemic. Rashford's new partnership with the charity Fare Share means they are also supplying 3.7 million meals per week to vulnerable people across the UK. Rashford's team at Roc Nation worked overtime to support his goals and help spread the word around the nation. Roc Nation are avid supporters of philanthropic work and are keen for their signed talent to use their status for good causes. "We don't really consider ourselves a traditional agency, we really are a movement," Michael Yormark, the President of Roc Nation Sports International told The Telegraph. "We don't tell anybody what to say, all we do is try to amplify it." During the newspaper's look at Rashford's impressive efforts Yormark discussed how RN believes that their sport stars and athletes have such a huge platform with which to connect with fans and make change; and praised Rashford for being a "shining example" of embodying Roc Nation's focus of "protecting and defending those that can't protect and defend themselves." Hov also made a call to Marcus to tell him how proud he was of his work. #JAYZ @marcusrashford

Ett inlägg delat av Hovstorian (@aintnojigga) 22 Jun 2020 kl. 10:59 PDT