The Brandr Group, Campus Ink partner for co-branded NIL products

The brand management, marketing and licensing agency The Brandr Group and the apparel company Campus Ink announced a partnership Thursday. Through the agreement, co-branded products will be created through Campus Ink’s NIL Store network and the company’s jersey brand Urban Champs.

Campus Ink’s NIL Stores sell customized merchandise that utilizes athletes’ name, image and likeness rights.

A press release said the partnership will start with Michigan State and Ohio State.

The Brandr Group will “provide an avenue for the Campus Ink model to flourish with its robust athlete opt-ins and enhanced licensee processes that will provide the optimum path for scaling opportunities for student-athletes around the country,” according to the release.

Campus Ink was founded in 1947 at Illinois. The company was “reimagined” in 2015. It expanded into NIL-related merchandise in 2021.

“Our mission from day one in the NIL space has been to put student-athletes first in a conversation that had previously excluded them,” Campus Ink CEO and co-founder Steven Farag said in a statement. “From our vantage, that means providing student-athletes with industry-leading payouts and empowering them as marketers with extensive resources and education. The Brandr Group shares our commitment to student-athlete welfare and will further enhance our ability to seamlessly onboard athletes into our program as we scale nationally.”

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has invested in Campus Ink.

“We are excited by Campus Ink’s ability to fill a significant void in the market, particularly in the fashion jersey category for multiple sports and student athletes both male and female,” The Brandr Group Vice President of Licensing said Riley Haynes, Vice President of Licensing at TBG. “Their technology, production capabilities, and commitment to maximum value for the athletes are all reasons why this announcement is exciting. Our partnership is another step in helping the maturation of this new and emerging segment of the industry.”

Campus Ink’s NIL Store provides athletes with NIL opportunities

The press release that announced the partnership between The Brandr Group and Campus Ink stated the companies have a mission of “providing industry-leading payouts to men’s and women’s collegiate student athletes.”

Campus Ink Director of Athlete Development and Partnerships Adam Cook told On3 in a previous interview that athletes who partner with Campus Ink earn between $8 and $15 per item sold.

“We’re very proud of that,” Cook said. “You can find that information on our website. That’s a big part of our thesis and our foundational beliefs. You know, they shouldn’t be making a buck fifty per shirt. That’s ridiculous.

“That’s just kind of blanket across the board what our athletes our earn.”

One notables examples of the merchandise available on one of the NIL Stores is Indiana guard Grace Berger‘s custom sweatshirt, which her coach Teri Moren once wore during a primetime game to show support when Berger was injured. Indiana forward Trayce Jackson-Davis recently released a high school throwback shirsey through The Indiana NIL Store. His Big Ten counterpart Zach Edey of Purdue partnered with Campus Ink to release a licensed hockey jersey through The Purdue NIL Store to celebrate his Canadian nationality.