VOICE x SPORT has officially launched, after a number of successful pilots with some of the world’s leading sports brands.
The new venture is an expansion of VOICE, a business therapy lab founded last year by seasoned advertising leader Natalia Forster.
VOICE X SPORT
As performance demands intensify across elite sport, mental resilience is becoming as strategically important as physical training.
VOICE x SPORT is designed as a personalised blueprint for athletes, sports professionals, brand teams and businesses that strengthens performance and nurtures personal identity.
Its aims are to empower athletes to thrive under pressure – while retaining and reconnecting with their authentic selves.
Natalia Forster
VOICE x SPORT draws on Forster’s extensive sports marketing experience, including 12 years working on the global adidas account at some of the world’s leading ad agencies.
Before launching VOICE in 2025, former TBWA, WK, 180 and GUT Amsterdam, Forster spent more than a decade shaping global campaigns for adidas, helping drive some of the brand’s most impactful and memorable moments.
Adidas VP Erika Wykes-Sneyd credits Forster’s “visionary insights and strategic acumen” with helping propel adidas to new heights, describing her as “a force for positive transformation within adidas and beyond.”
Unrelenting challenges
Claiming to be the first system of its kind, VOICE x SPORT said it recognises the unrelenting challenges that modern athletes face.
Increased social media scrutiny and sponsorship demands, coupled with calls from fans, partners, and organisations for authenticity, purpose, and individuality have transformed sportspeople into cultural platforms, laden with responsibilities and pressure.
A recent peer-reviewed study revealed that up to 77% of athletes have experienced “choking” ( failure to perform) under pressure, while others struggle with identity and career transitions once professional sport ends.
Using VOICE’s proprietary Voice Essence Map Method (VEMM), the programme begins with an intensive 2.5 hour deep dive session and evolves into a personalised VOICE Blueprint spanning positioning, purpose, narrative and rollout strategy.
Through this structured framework, VOICE aims to empower athletes to reconnect with their core values and aspirations, articulate their distinct voices and transform their identities into powerful shields against the demands of the sporting world.
Forster said: “Athletes are wired differently. There’s a hunger and a drive that I haven’t witnessed before.”
“The question is how do we protect that long term? “
“Our work supports them in the present, fostering a deep sense of self, community, and equity that help shape how sport is experienced and sustained at every level, helping them perform at their best under pressure, while also preparing them for what comes next.”
“From career transitions to business and brand building, VOICE helps athletes answer critical questions: How can I protect my performance? What can I build when the game changes?”
Marta García Alonso, Pro Athlete, said: “No one has ever approached a conversation about my future from such a personal place, and in the end it’s true that you create from who you are.”
“The VOICE workshop is as unexpected as it is special.”