Your NIL Activation Playbook 🏀

Why it matters

Most brands think the hard part is finding the right athlete. It's not.

I co-founded Fuse, a Gen Z marketing agency that built the athlete partnerships for brands like Mountain Dew, Ford Motor Company, and Gillette.

Finding the right athletes was easy. Negotiating deals was easy. The hard part was activation — actually bringing those partnerships to life beyond a logo or a press release. That's where brands won or lost.

Today's NIL market has the same challenge. The deal is just the beginning. Activation is where partnerships thrive or die.

The 5 things to plan before the ink dries

1. Where you'll use their NIL

Map out every place the student-athlete will appear:

  • Social media (theirs and yours)

  • Your digital footprint (website, newsletter, social ads)

  • Brodcast (TV commercials, streaming, podcasts, radio)

  • Live consumer or retail events 

  • Retail marketing (POP, packaging)

I get it — you may only do social media, but start the process thinking bigger.

2. Who does the work

Student-athletes aren't pro athletes — and most don't have agents or managers. They need help.

Their needs vary based on how you will activate them:

  • Social posts: Who films, edits, schedules?

  • Broadcast: Who manages the production shoot?

  • Retail: Who handles photography and approval?

  • Live events: Who coordinates logistics and talking points?

Pick your internal team. Decide now who owns each piece. Most NIL deals fail here. The athlete wants to deliver, but doesn't know how without support.

3. How your brand shows up

Create simple guidelines for each activation channel:

  • Social: How does the athlete talk about your product naturally in their feed?

  • Broadcast: What's the role they play in the spot?

  • Retail: How does their image connect to the product story?

  • Events: What's their authentic connection to your brand message?

The best activation feels like the athlete's idea, not yours.

4. What success looks like

Keep it simple.

  • Social: Engagement rate and reach

  • Digital: Website traffic, email sign-ups, etc.

  • Broadcast: Brand lift

  • Retail: In-store traffic or sales

  • Events: Attendance

Share these goals with the student-athlete. They'll perform better when they know the target.

5. How often you'll connect

Set a regular check-in schedule:

  • Weekly for multi-channel campaigns (broadcast shoots, events, social)

  • Bi-weekly for digital and social-only partnerships

  • Monthly for always-on retail programs

More channels = more communication needed.

The bottom line

Signing the deal is easy. Smart brands win by planning activation across all their channels before it starts.

About Bill Carter

Bill has advised brands on Name, Image, Likeness for 25 years—first in pro sports, now at the college level. He was the Co-Founder of the Gen Z sports agency Fuse, which he sold in 2019. In 2020, he founded Student-Athlete Insights and consults on NIL strategy with Fortune 500 companies and 30+ DI universities. Read more about Student-Athlete Insights.

Bill Carter