Powerade inks NIL deals with five college football players

Powerade has returned to the NIL space.

The sports drink has been a sponsor of the NCAA since 2010. It launched its first NIL campaign during this spring’s March Madness, signing contracts with 37 men’s and women’s college basketball players.

Now the Coca-Cola Company has made its largest NIL push yet, signing five college football players with plans for activations across TV, social media and radio. Florida State‘s Jared Verse, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels, Georgia cornerback Malaki Starks, USC wide receiver Mario Williams and Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson.

The hydration drink has partnerships at more than 20 schools. Powerade made sure athletes were able to rep their institution’s IP marks in the deal.

“As the official hydration partner for many big-time programs, we want Powerade to be synonymous with college football – and there was no better way than to team up with several of the best athletes in the country for our newest campaign,” Body Armour’s chief marketing officer Tom Gargiulo said in a statement. “These top players embody who we are as a brand, putting in the work in hopes of getting to the next level. Given the huge reach of college football, we’re excited to tap into that network of fans and consumers to showcase that POWERADE offers more than the competition.”

Dubbed the “It takes more” campaign, Powerade works closely with Altius Sports Partners on its NIL strategy. According to Sports Business Journal, the first 30-second spot of the campaign will air on Sept. 3 with more spots expected to follow. Along with the national campaign, Powerade plans to air multiple regional spots with a focus on the five college markets.

Before the brand launched its March Madness campaign, Altius walked Powerade through NCAA policy, school rules and state laws surrounding NIL. It also broke down what a brand should look for in college athletes when it comes to NIL.

“What we did with them is said, ‘Ok, here’s how you can objectively assess the ROI of all these different athletes,” Altius CEO Casey Schwab told On3 in March. “They selected. Then we helped them get to the athletes and passed along the information.”

As part of the college football campaign, Powerade will also be teaming up with more than 60 other athletes across the country for additional campaign content to go live throughout the season.