ZIPS Car Wash launches NIL-driven 'Convos' with 12 athletes

When Learfield brought ZIPS Car Wash into the NIL space back in August, it announced plans to launch “Car Wash Convos.”

These individual partnerships with athletes will include one-on-one interviews, giving fans an up-close look at their favorite players on and off the playing field. On Wednesday, the car wash service, which owns 250 stores in 24 states, put the NIL initiative into action.

Twelve athletes from Arkansas, North Carolina and Tennessee have signed deals. These six schools are also in the main geographic footprint of the express car wash company, too.

Razorbacks wide receiver Jadon Haselwood is the first to appear in the videos, which will be released on ZIPS’ YouTube channel. All deals were sourced through Opendorse, which has a partnership with Learfield. The “Car Wash Convos” will roll out through the remainder of the academic year.

Here is the full list of athletes who have signed deals with ZIPS:

• Arkansas track’s Britton Wilson
• Arkansas basketball’s Jersey Wolfenbarger
• Arkansas softball’s Hannah Gammill
• Tennessee football’s Tayven Jackson
• Tennessee basketball’s Rickea Jackson
• Tennessee basketball’s Jonas Aidoo
• Tennessee softball’s Karlyn Pickens
• North Carolina basketball’ Armando Bacot
• North Carolina basketball’s Alyssa Utsby
• North Carolina lacrosse’s Julia Dorsey
• North Carolina golf’s Austin Greaser

The athletes will be interviewed by personalties with strong ties to their respective insitiution. For the first video, Haselwood hopped in the car for a conversation with Arkansas track alum Taliyah Brooks.

“Car Wash Convos is a great opportunity for Razorback fans to get to know more about my personality off the field,” Haselwood said in a statement. “I’m excited to be included in this partnership alongside such other accomplished athletes.”

Inside the partnership with Learfield, ZIPS Car Wash

Because Learfield is the the media rights holder for these schools, athletes execute their deals while wearing their school colors and logos. With a built-in content creation team, Learfield can handle the entire creative process. Add in the on-site Learfield employees at these institutions, and ZIPS receives support to make sure its deals are carried out.

“Launching Car Wash Convos and our overall approach to NIL with official school IP, which includes 24 additional episodes to air over the next two years, ties back to our three-year commitment to our sponsorship of these universities, college sports and the loyal fans who follow the lives of these student-athletes,” ZIPS Car Wash Chief Marketing Officer Mark Youngworth said. “We feel that introducing fans to the lives of these student-athletes is the optimum approach for overall strength and effectiveness of our campaign, and we’re thrilled to highlight seven female athletes in a year celebrating the 50th anniversary of Title IX.”

Learfield also brought ZIPS sponsorships to three other schools at the time of the August announcement: Baylor, South Carolina and Georgia. Another component of the multi-year agreement with Learfield enables ZIPS to offer its unlimited members exclusive access to enter to win college gameday tickets and other prizes.

The collegiate sports marketing company, which works with more than 200 of the top collegiate properties, has continued to help brands enter the NIL space. Marquette re-negotiated its relationship with Dave & Buster’s this offseason, with Learfield playing a role. As part of the updated partnership, there is an NIL activation portion of the agreement.

“It is exciting to see a partner brand authentically utilize university IP with the NIL of these 12 student-athletes,” Learfield Chief Revenue Officer John Brody said. “This is NIL done right.”