Do brand ambassadors have to be exclusive?

Within your category yes, outside it no. An ambassador who shows two gel brands at once isn't an ambassador but a comparison test, and neither brand gets anything out of that. An ambassador who wears an apparel brand next to your gel is simply an athlete with several brands that fit them.

In the industry, ambassador exclusivity is often broad and long: a year, sometimes across categories. That scares off exactly the profiles you want, because an athlete who has to tie themselves to one brand for a year picks the brand that pays most, not the brand that fits best.

With Sunday Squad Ambassadors, exclusivity applies per round and per category: while a round runs, no direct competitor. What counts as a category is in the briefing. Between rounds the athlete is free, and that's deliberate. Whoever chooses your round again after a free month does so because it fits. That's worth more than a clause. How exclusivity works in a collab, and whether an athlete can be an ambassador for several brands.