NBCUniversal and Visa are teaming up for an ambitious marketing partnership linking the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics and the Super Bowl through content created by sports-centric creator Alison Cooke and former NFL player Isaac Rochell.
The duo, known as Allie and Isaac, will be flown by NBCUniversal this week to Levi’s Stadium in Northern California for the Winter Games in Northern Italy and the Super Bowl on Feb. 8. Cucci and Rochel, who are married, will produce content aimed at capturing key moments from both Games, as well as behind-the-scenes glimpses and personal stories of the athletes aiming for gold in Milan-Cortina and gold in Santa Clara and Lombardy. The work with popular creators is part of NBCUniversal’s efforts to enhance its “Legendary February” promotional campaign, which emphasizes to viewers that the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics are in the same short month.
The content produced by the husband-and-wife duo known as Allie and Isaac runs almost entirely on social media and digital video platforms. It will not be distributed on NBCUniversal’s linear platform, but rather through the social and digital platforms of NBCUniversal and Visa, and potentially other partners. This agreement represents a new evolution in television advertising, as it is a marketing agreement that is not tied to traditional metrics or time periods.
Rochell is a former NFL defensive end who retired after seven seasons in 2024. Allie has started sharing their life together on social media, and daughter Scottie Bea is also on the way, and the couple is expecting another baby. It started with Allie expressing her life as a spouse. Professional athletes have evolved into a profession that attracts the attention of couples for marketing and sponsorship deals. The two previously appeared with NBC Sports at the Kentucky Derby in May.
“Each moment was an opportunity to really create connective tissue and tell different stories, but through the lens of the creators. That’s exactly where we think this is the perfect marriage for Allie and Isaac to come together,” said Karen Kovacs, president of advertising sales and partnerships at NBCUniversal. “On behalf of NBC, they’re really taking this story to their own communities, and that’s really exciting. The two of them are really creating unique, authentic storytelling, combining culture and sports and audiences. This is a really exciting opportunity for both Visa and NBCU.”
Cucci and Rochelle will get an all-access pass to two of the world’s biggest sporting events. They are going to provide a typical “you are there” POV of the event. Cucci is particularly interested in exploring the human stories behind high-achieving athletes.
“I think what people relate to the most is honesty. I’ve always shared the behind-the-scenes realities of the sports world and how it feels when the Olympics are filled with the same demographic,” Cucci said. “There’s a lot of heart behind every athlete and every family there. We’re excited to bring that same perspective to this setting and focus on the human side of the Olympics that viewers may not necessarily see.”
Visa is looking to Cucci’s social media touch to amplify key moments at both events and capitalize on the growing creator economy.
“We are so grateful to NBC for entrusting us with something as meaningful as the Olympics. It’s really special to be invited as storytellers to a venue like this, and we don’t take that lightly,” Cucci and Rochelle said. “Opportunities like this remind us how powerful media is in bringing people closer to moments they might not otherwise experience. We’re excited to be a small part of that, and we’re excited to continue learning from a team that does this at such a high level.”
Karen Kovacs points out that NBCUniversal created a Creators Collective around the Paris Summer Games in 2024, which created a wave of content that further generated buzz around the Games.
“We’ve been working with creators in their ecosystem for the last few years, and it’s really exciting to see that come to life in a bigger way in Milan. But I feel like you and I have been talking about how this could come to fruition for us in ways other than sports,” Kovacs said. “You know, we’re really seeing the power of creators all over the world. So whether it’s entertainment or whether it’s Bravo, that has a huge impact on how we develop programming and how we market it with our partners.”
(Photo: Allison Kush and Isaac Rochell at the 2025 Kentucky Derby)
