Why C4 Energy has seen return on investment in NIL spending

Like most companies who have struck NIL deals in the last 27 months, C4 Energy had plenty of questions on July 1, 2021.

The brand wanted to enter the space and sign endorsement contracts with some of college football’s biggest names. But figuring out what an athlete was worth and how to get into contact with the right parties – all those questions left plenty to be answered.

C4 knew college athletics was their piece of the market to tap into, though. The company launched in 2011 as a powder-based drink, but the brand shifted to a C4 carbonated energy drink in 2018. As Marquel Carter, the Director of Influencer Marketing at Nutrabolt, which oversees C4, told On3 recently, he was first introduced to the product during his college years at Columbia.

Confident in the potential, C4 dove into NIL.

“When it first opened up, it was kind of a scary space, right?” Carter said. “No one really had too much information on how well it would do. I think we’ve spent enough time now to see that there is a return on investment there. It’s starting to level out with just the understanding of where those marketing dollars or budgets for talent lie. I definitely think this space is growing every single day.”

Safe to say the brand’s bet paid off. C4 Energy signed deals with former college stars C.J. Stroud and Bijan Robinson in 2021 as its first NIL ambassadors. Now playing in the NFL, the company has continued to work with the two.

Expansion has come along, too. Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and USC wide receiver Zachariah Branch are two of college football’s biggest names. Both have signed with C4 in the last two months.

C4’s plans for growth

Tapping into the college market continues to make sense for C4. The energy drink is open to a school partnership down the road, but it isn’t necessarily aggressively looking for one.

College sports has always been a vehicle to unite masses of people, from college students to alumni to diehard fans. C4 hopes that its work in NIL is targeting all of those demographics.

“If you look at it from the standpoint of the college athletes or the Gen Z audience that we’re looking for, that’s the next wave of our consumers,” Carter said. “But also if you look at just the fandom and football, it spans all generations. So I think college football gives us that opportunity to touch and speak to our consumers as a whole.”

Past brand awareness – which Carter said has been a major win – the energy drink has set up in-store marketing and a few meet-and-greets. Even being able to post content on C4’s social media and website featuring the athletes is beneficial.

The brand has no plans of slowing down either, with Carter emphasizing, “You’ll see more from us.” Through a partnership with 98Strong, the influential network allows C4 to work with athletes across the nation on a monthly basis. It provides the brand with the opportunity to work with athletes who aren’t constantly in the spotlight.

C4 can instead build its brand awareness through engagement across all types of social media platforms through 98Strong. The company focuses on catering to the 98% of athletes who will not turn professional in their sport after college.

“Our plan, our strategy, is really to be ever present in this space,” Carter said. “Because we are ever present in this space, you’ll definitely see more from us. We have a partnership that allows us to work with 100 student-athletes a month, in various sports and across the nation. That’s what I’m excited about is us being able to really activate with talent across the whole nation.”

NIL provides launchpad for C4 Energy

Depending on state laws, some endorsement deals can be carried over when athletes leave college. Others aren’t able to do that.

The bottom line, however, is C4 can use NIL as a launchpad for the future. Stroud and Robinson are still working with the energy drink at the NFL level. That probably would never happen without the relationships that were started during their college years. C4 isn’t the first brand to come to that realization. There’s a reason why Nike and adidas are targeting future basketball stars in the NBA and WNBA.

From a marketing perspective, C4 can use long-term relationships to tell a story. And that’s worth the NIL dollars now for what the long-term return on investment could look like.

“The brand has been in the NIL space since it opened up,” he said. “Working with talent in that space has always been a priority for us. That’s like the real, I think, first embrace that anybody has with the brand. From an athlete’s perspective, personally, the first time I ever had before C4 was when I first got to college. It’s a perfect fit and the perfect start of that journey in that process for talent.

“Hitting on C.J. Stroud again, there’s not too many brands that can say that they’ve had somebody go from the very beginnings with them all the way through to their NFL career. And that’s something that we pride ourselves in. It’s really like a partnership for us. It’s not just transactional.”