Humann Wins Best Branded Content at the 2026 Hashtag Sports Awards

Humann Wins Best Branded Content at the 2026 Hashtag Sports Awards

One-of-a-kind partnership with Texas Athletics and Learfield earns one of sports media and marketing’s top honors for brand storytelling.  

 

AUSTIN, TEXAS—Humann, the Austin-based cardiovascular health company behind SuperBeets®, has won Best Branded Content at the 8th Annual Hashtag Sports Awards. This honor recognizes Humann’s partnership with the University of Texas Athletics and Learfield as a standout example of a multimedia campaign that highlighted the shared mission of two Austin-born, Austin-raised institutions to make better blood flow the foundation for both peak performance and everyday wellness.   

The award celebrates a multiyear collaboration that connects Humann’s cardiovascular health science to one of the most storied programs in college athletics. Orchestrated by Learfield through Longhorn Sports Properties, the campaign announced Humann as the Official Cardiovascular Supplement of Texas Athletics and brought a decade-long relationship to a national audience. 

Humann was born out of a University of Texas system research program and inspired by Nobel Prize-winning science. For more than a decade Texas Athletics’ training staff and athletes have relied on Humann products — a run that has coincided with more than 20 national championships.  

Launched in August 2025, the winning campaign brought that origin story to life through an original documentary, a dedicated microsite on texaslonghorns.com, and social media content featuring 24 student-athletes across nine sports, including Madison Booker and Rori Harmon from Texas’ nationally ranked women’s basketball team and Teagan Kavan from the Texas Longhorns national championship softball team.  

An American Heart Month activation in February 2026 transformed Texas’ Moody Center through a series of immersive, in-game experiences designed to help fans see – and feel – what cardiovascular health looks like when it matters. It used parachute drops, unique on-court lighting and other branding moments to create an experiential arena that felt like the inside of the vascular system. The men’s and women’s basketball teams also wore “In Our Veins – Humann” shooting shirts 

Across earned, owned, and social channels, the campaign successfully translated Humann’s science-born story into compelling sports content that reached millions of fans. It generated more than 373 million impressions 

“This award belongs to every member of the team that built it with us — Texas Athletics, Learfield, and the student-athletes who live our mission on and off the field,” said Joel Kocher, CEO and Co-Founder of Humann. “What started in a University of Texas research program now reaches millions of fans, and this recognition proves what happens when world-class science and world-class athletics tell one story together. We’re proud of the work, and we’re just getting started.” 

The recognition reinforces Humann’s position at the intersection of performance science and authentic sports storytelling.