Student-Athlete Brand Activation Is the Engine that NIL Needs
Name, Image, Likeness Insider uses proprietary data and expert insights to explain the latest NIL developments.
This content originally appeared in the August 1, 2022 edition of Sports Business Journal.
THE ELEMENTS OF NIL ARE IN PLACE TO MAKE IT A PERMANENT SUCCESS
While imperfect, the elements of name, image, likeness are in place to make NIL a permanent success. Seventeen percent of student athletes at Division I schools are participating in NIL, with about 65% of student athletes interested in pursuing it in the future. Despite only 35% of athletic administrators saying they personally support NIL, D-I schools have developed decent NIL policies and education. Marketplaces like NOCAP, Opendorse, and others are in abundance. Governance is unsteady, but it’s evolving at the state level. And it wouldn’t be college athletics if we didn’t have over-involved boosters — we’ve got that covered with 70-plus collectives.
What’s lacking that would ensure NIL success is best-in-class brand activation — the kind that sports industry pros have grown accustomed to. Why does it matter that we get student-athlete brand activation powered up? Because brands are the engine in the sports industry. They provide both the money and the visibility that far exceeds what an athlete or property can create on their own.
While student athletes can sell directly to consumers (via instruction, cameos, merch sales), those combined make up less than 10% of NIL activities. For student athletes to access the full breadth of opportunities, brands need to be involved. But the usual sponsors have been slow to sponsor and activate NIL deals. My surveys with brand managers reveal three main reasons for this:
1) The supply side of the NIL marketplace has been flooded with over half a million student athletes (for some perspective, there are about 10,000 pro athletes in the U.S.), so brands don’t feel the urgency to act.
2) Sports sponsors are sophisticated, calculating, and risk-averse, and they’ve wanted to see the results of the first year’s NIL deals.
3) Experienced brands don’t sign athletes without an activation plan and there have been unknowns about what a college athlete activation would look like.
With a year of NIL behind us, we can now more confidently address No. 3 and begin building successful activation plans that accept its limitations, while capitalizing on what’s unique about student-athlete marketing.
ACCESS AND IMPACT
The access and impact a brand gets through NIL is among the strongest and most unique that I’ve seen in my 25 years in youth/teen/young adult marketing. Student athletes provide to a brand:
■ An authentic connection with fans, alumni, and others who follow them, their team, and their university.
■ Influence among their peers on-campus and with their followers online.
■ Visibility with youth sports consumers (for many of the non-revenue sports, college athletes are the heroes to youth athletes).
ONLINE, ON-AIR, RETAIL, AND EVENTS
Online: Of course brands will activate their student-athlete partnership online, but a few things to understand: 1) Contrary to what many believe, not every student athlete has a large social media presence, because many coaches and administrators actively dissuade student athletes from being active on social media. 2) Brands shouldn’t assume that their sponsored athlete will have the time (or the skills) to develop social content. Brands should treat a college athlete like they would a pro athlete and create the content — or at least the framework — for them.
On-air: Student athletes have extremely limited time for a shoot. Unlike a pro athlete, who may simply choose not to make themselves available, student athletes’ time (and priorities) are not in their control. In season, they report spending 23 hours per week in practice (even though the NCAA mandates a maximum of 20 hours). In addition, they say they spend 10-plus hours on voluntary team activities, treatments and travel. Add to that classes, eating, and sleeping and the result is little time for a brand partnership. Shoots need to be in the offseason and will need to work around the academic calendar.
Retail: Other than in-store appearances and autograph sessions, we have not seen much retail activation yet, but that’s likely to change in 2022. UVA quarterback Brennan Armstrong recently signed a deal with McDonald’s in Charlottesville, Va., that will include a combo meal named for him.
I think retail activation will be the biggest growth area in the 2022-23 academic year. I know of multiple brands in the early stages of planning retail activations that include on-pack, point-of-purchase, and more.
Events: My surveys indicate that appearances at live events make up only about 7% of NIL activity right now. But brands shouldn’t underestimate the value of event activation. Student athletes want to do events (again, when it doesn’t conflict with their mandatory team activities and academic obligations) and consumers really want the access to athletes. Football players at Michigan State and Auburn recently announced player-owned “clubs” that will offer fans access to players at private events.
We are now in Year 2 of the name, image, and likeness era. This new ecosystem’s growth and development will be driven by brands and in large part by the activations that only brands can provide.
I consult with brands, agencies, and sports organizations on Name, Image, and Likeness - and provide on-demand courses for parents, athletes, coaches & administrators. I teach NIL in College Sports at the University of Vermont’s Grossman School of Business. My NIL services include consulting, training workshops, custom newsletter-style monthly updates, content development, on-demand courses, and more. I’m a SportsBusiness Journal Forty Under 40 Award winner and former co-founder of the marketing agency Fuse, which I operated for 20 years before selling in 2019.