This NCAA Athlete Became an NIL Darling After March Madness Cinderella Run

The NCAA Tournament is the ultimate basketball event in the college domain. This year, it also became a case study for brands on how to navigate name, image and likeness (NIL) deals with student-athletes. The 2022 championship drew an average of 10.7 million total viewers for its 67 live telecasts, up 13% year over year. Student-athletes have been allowed to sign endorsement deals beginning in July 2021. This year's tournament marked the first time athletes could build recognition off the large platform. During March Madness, there's usually a Cinderella story that captures the hearts of fans across the country. This year's tale starred the Saint Peter's Peacocks. A stone's throw away from New York, the Jersey City-based university's basketball team made the NCAA Tournament just three times prior to 2022, failing to win a game on every occasion. In the team's first round game against the Kentucky Wildcats, it was given just a 5% chance of winning, according to ESPN's basketball power index. But the sparky Saint Peter's team defied the odds, with a star turn by Doug Edert. The mustachioed guard came off the bench to score 20 points, including hitting a clutch jump shot to send the game into overtime. Saint Peter's won in the extra period 85-79, stunning the Wildcats. Edert's on-court performance and memorable mustache led to worldwide attention instantly. The guard began the year with about 1,500 followers on Instagram. After Saint Peter's win in the first round on March 18, Edert's followers rose to 5,611. As of today, Edert has over 174,000 followers on the social media platform. A meme of Edert—who transferred to Bryant University at the end of the season—with his tongue out became one of the lasting images of the tournament as Saint Peter's made it all the way to the Elite Eight. Revenue earned from a mustache Another byproduct of the added attention was NIL deals. Edert signed NIL deals with chicken wing QSR Buffalo Wild Wings and Barstool Sports. The digital sports entertainment hub had someone from its merchandise team send Edert a DM about a merchandise collaboration, leading to the release of shirts, sweatshirts and hoodies with Edert's face on them sold on Barstool's site. Edert had total creative control and took home the majority of the revenue, while the brand promoted the clothing to its massive audience of 13.7 million followers on Instagram. "You had a really phenomenal player with a Cinderella team in a high-pressure, high-profile college tournament," said Barstool Sports CEO Erika Nardini. "The personality and enthusiasm around Dougie Buckets [Edert's nickname] was something that we knew we could make 10 times as big as it already was. And we could do it in a way that gave something great to Barstool Sports fans and then also made Doug a lot of money." Edert and Barstool Sports have an 80/20 revenue split, respectively, for sales of the merchandise. And it's selling: over 5,000 units primarily between March 23-27. The largest spike in sales occurred on March 25 right after Saint Peter's took down Purdue in the Sweet 16. Barstool Sports has 140,000 athlete partners. It has done three merchandise partnerships besides Edert with North Carolina State's Tommy White; UAB's Jordan "Jelly" Walker; and East Carolina University's Zach Agnos. Barstool intends to continue forging merchandise partnerships while also exploring brand partnerships with student-athletes. "We're looking for personalities and characters," Nardini said. "It doesn't really matter if you're a D3 player or a D1 player or what conference you're in. It's about what's the moment? What's the sport? What's the personality you have and can create?" Taking a bite out of overtime Edert's deal with Buffalo Wild Wings was a part of a larger NIL campaign called "Overtime" that the Inspire Brands-owned brand worked on for the NCAA Tournament. As part of the campaign, Buffalo Wild Wings rewarded NIL deals to the student-athletes that sent games into overtime by paying them to be influencers to promote Buffalo Wild Wings' Overtime Wingtime offer. Edert, Trey Alexander, Nikki Baird and James Akinjo were the four players that Buffalo Wild Wings signed to the program in a one-off commitment. "While the deal came together quickly, the planning for the moment was months in the making for our team and agency partners," Buffalo Wild Wings CMO Rita Patel told Adweek. "To be ready to move quickly on these deals, every detail had to be worked out so that it was fairly turnkey in the moment. Because of this, we were able to pull off multiple NIL deals with student-athletes while they were still playing in the tournament." Patel added that Buffalo Wild Wings received valuable insights from its sister brands in the Inspire portfolio, including Arby’s and Dunkin’, which had recently established NIL partnerships. If you stay ready, you don't have to get ready For brands, making quick deals can be tough, requiring a structured plan with fast turnaround windows. Patel mentioned that of the four players signed to Buffalo Wild Wings, Creighton University guard Alexander's social post came within less than 24 hours of him sending his game into overtime. Some of the others were not as easy. "We knew we had small windows to do these deals and were on call to talk to athletic departments, student athletes, parents and family friends around the clock," she said. CEO Blake Lawrence of NIL platform Opendorse said these quick opportunities are a marketer's dream because they are tied to big moments that draw considerable attention. "It goes back to access, it goes back to activations, it goes back to how quickly you are able to capitalize on those moments," he said. "Some advertisers are in a position where they can move quickly. Others it takes months because of corporate structure or agency relationships. Those advertisers that are able to move quickly can capitalize in those big moments in sports." Patel said the brand wanted to jump on a breakthrough cultural moment to create more awareness and conversation around the Overtime Wingtime offer. Buffalo Wild Wings measured success by the amount of earned media and conversations created though the NIL deals. "For NIL, we didn’t want to do deals just for the sake of doing deals," Patel said. "They needed to solve a brand challenge, and for our March Madness deals, that was to strengthen our equity in overtime. In this process, we learned that being prepared matters—expect the unexpected, and timeliness is the key in driving relevancy."