Brands Seeking to Leverage New Grassroots Channels via Name, Image, Likeness (NIL)
Dayton, OH —Welcome to Wild-Wild-West of branding and marketing…and (in a similar wild-conversation) legalized sports betting.
For the athlete, it’s a season in which nearly anything goes. From Coke to the local car dealer and everything in between, athletes, regardless of notoriety are capitalizing on the sponsor dollar cash flows to financially benefit from the usage of their name, image, and likeness (NIL)
These water-shed moments have ushered with it a new era for sponsorships and a new frontier for brands to conquer. Whether serving as corporate spokesmen, utilizing their social media platforms, or being an on-site face for a brand at an event, companies are creatively learning how to connect with content creators and collaborators to best leverage this new grassroots-level opportunity within their marketing mix. Many brands, as a result, have reallocated their marketing spend to cash-in on new audience reaches given the wide range implications locally, regionally, and nationally…from local gyms and car dealerships to national restaurant chains, pet food, start-ups, and household brands.
The emergence of these new marketing vehicles has many brands seeking athletes in a few categories: those from traditional revenue generating sports like football and basketball as well as those athletes who participate in nontraditional sports yet possess a sizable social media following.
As amateur athletes are seeking to cash-in on this new revenue opportunities, brands are equally eager to advertise and market to newfound audiences —demonstrated by the willingness to sign collegiate athletes to 6-figure and 7-figure deals. Though media rate standards are constantly being re-determined, it is anticipated that amateur athletes could / are earning:
$20 per Instagram follower
$3-4 per TikTok follower
$4-7 per You Tube follower
$10 per every $1,000 Twitter follower
Though state legislation varies nationwide, some premier athletes in high school are even feeling the newfound financial benefits of monetized brand ambassadorship.
And as one would anticipate in this ever evolving marketplace, the NCAA, in an attempt to bring some order is passing ever-changing legislation in this loose-landscape reality that it finds itself in to govern and limit the averse affects and booster attempts to sway individual school selections.
Nonetheless, the one remaining constant is change…and those brands that learn to adapt in this ever evolving landscape will be the ones best positioned for years to come.