Iowa State football players strike delicious NIL deal with Iowa Pork Producers Association

The Iowa Pork Producers Association created the perfect NIL deal Iowa State football fans have been bacon for.

The group focused on educating and providing a leading voice for Iowa pork producers announced a new NIL partnership on social media Monday with Cyclone football players Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann and Caleb Bacon.

In a post on X, the players posed in a picture with their backs to the camera. The photo resulted in the most appropriate NIL image maybe ever with the players’ names promoting followers to: Purchase Moore Hamman and Bacon.

The photo was perfectly accented with a massive ham and an overflowing plate of bacon.

“You asked,” the post’s caption said. “We listened. Celebrate the Cyclone win by Purchasing More Ham and Bacon!”

The post has immediately gone viral. Within 45 minutes of it going live, it generated more than 270,00 views and was liked more than 1,600 times – and counting.

“After the ‘Hamann Bacon’ photo went viral on social media following the Cyclones’ season opener, we knew we had to jump on this opportunity,” Trish Cook, president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, said in a news release. “These four young men are not only great football players, they also have strong academic records and great last names! We couldn’t be more excited to work with them in this fun initiative to publicize Iowa pork.”

In conjunction with the NIL partnership, the Iowa Pork Producers Association will donate $1,000 of pork to each player’s food pantry of choice. Iowa State’s We Will Collective helped in facilitating the NIL opportunity.

You asked. We Listened.

Celebrate the Cyclone win by Purchasing More Ham and Bacon! 🥓🏈#Porktober23 #IowaPork pic.twitter.com/NvSQoHDblB

— Iowa Pork Producers (@IowaPork) September 25, 2023

Iowa State players’ deal is ‘amazing’

Michael Ehrlich knows a creative NIL deal when he sees one. He previously worked as the head of athlete engagement for MarketPryce and now he’s operating Playbook Marketing, his own marketing and consulting agency.

When the brand-building expert saw the NIL deal with the Iowa State players, he described it in one word – “amazing.”

“As we are off and running in year three of NIL, the brand partnerships that truly breakthrough are those rooted in authenticity,” Ehrlich told On3. “What Iowa Pork brought to life – leveraging the unique last names of Cyclone players – is simple, yet creative and will certainly take a regional story and garner national conversations.”

It’s also impressive because it involves several of the Cyclones’ top players.

Through four games, Purchase, a cornerback, is second on the team in tackles with 20. He also has three tackles for a loss, two pass deflections and one sack. Bacon, a linebacker, is fifth on the team with 17 tackles, but he leads the Cyclones with 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Moore has two receptions for 19 yards and a touchdown from his tight end spot. And Hamann, a defensive lineman, has played in one game this season for Iowa State.