Welcome Back to Out2Win’s Weekly Report!

For those that are new here, every week I’ll be in your inbox with everything you need to know in the world of athlete marketing.

What to expect in this week’s edition:

• Travis Hunter, the #1 NIL College Football Influencer: Performance Breakdown

• JLab Kicking Off One of the Biggest College Football Campaigns This Season

• Fast-Casual Restaurants Evolving their Marketing Strategies with Athlete Influencers

• Top 10 College Football Influencers in the ACC: A Breakdown of Virginia Tech’s rising superstar

🏈 Top Partnerships of 2024: Travis Hunter

The #1 Athlete-Influencer for the 2024-25 CFB Season

Executional Breakdown: Top 5 Campaigns

Each of these partnerships utilize Instagram Reels for distribution, but leverage different marketing techniques to get their messaging accross:

1. United Airlines | September 5th: 1.8M Reel Plays
   United features Travis in a commercial-style video, using his dynamic personality to represent the brand and connect with viewers.

2. Celsius | August 26th: 430K Reel Plays
   Celsius has partnered with Travis for a high-impact campaign that kicks off with the college football season and continues throughout the year.

3. Buffalo Wild Wings | August 28th: 420K Reel Plays
   Buffalo Wild Wings leverages Travis’ influence by offering his 90% male audience multiple discount codes in several promotional videos.

4. EA Sports | July 16th: 583K Reel Plays
   EA Sports taps into Travis’ large following of football fans to promote their game directly through his social media channels by showing him in a heated game against teammate Sheduer Sanders.

5. Major League Fishing | July 23rd: 117K Reel Plays
   Major League Fishing collaborates with Travis, who shares his genuine passion for fishing alongside an MLF pro in order to authentically promote their brand and products.

To uncover our FULL LIST of EVERY College Football Athlete-Influencer in 2024 →  Click Here

🎧 JLab's Partnership Headlining the Audio Industry

JLab’s Athlete-Influencer Roster

This massive NIL deal is headlined by this season's top NIL player, Travis Hunter, alongside a standout lineup of receiver-quarterback duos:

Competitive Analysis: CFB Headphone Partnerships

JLab’s athlete pairings offer a distinct advantage in roster strategy by hyper targeting specific university fan bases, but Beats has already demonstrated strong execution with high-impact content and school partnerships that boost visibility.

While JLab gets the edge for budget-friendly value, Beats currently leads in overall execution and results.

🌯 Athlete Campaigns Innovating Fast-Casual Marketing

In the evolving world of brand partnerships in sports, fast-casual restaurants are finding creative ways to engage with athlete influencers through social media NIL deals. This approach is enhancing brand visibility among college audiences and sports fans everywhere!

Whether you're a high-profile brand like Chipotle, or a local company like Surcheros, there are athletes who can perfectly align with your brand's needs.

3 Different Strategic Approaches

Chipotle X Jeremiah Smith
Partnership Execution: Chipotle partnered with Ohio State to launch a groundbreaking initiative, offering free Chipotle to all OSU student-athletes during their seasons. The announcement, shared via a viral video on Smith’s Instagram, has already garnered over 1.2 million Instagram Reel plays!

Cava X Elliot Cadeau
Partnership Execution: Elliot Cadeau led the #CavAthlete campaign, showcasing Cava as part of his daily diet across multiple platforms. His authentic content, paired with his strong multi-platform presence, drove impressive engagement, earning 230K Instagram Reel plays and 110K TikTok views for the brand.

Surcheros X Luke Bennett
Partnership Execution: Luke Bennett, a Georgia football micro-influencer, teamed up with the chain restaurant to achieve a record amount of Reel plays for the company on social media. The brand also introduced menu items in Bennett's honor, showcasing the power of authentic, localized partnerships.

Our Value Picks For Future Campaigns

Leveraging Out2Win’s Intelligence Platform, our team has identified three standout athlete-influencers whose social media statistics and genuine passion for the food industry positions them to effectively lead the next brand marketing campaigns for the fast-casual sector.

📈 Top ACC College Football Influencers

O2W’s Top 10 Picks Heading Into The Season

Trending Athlete-Influencer: Kemari Copeland

Kemari Copeland, ranked #3 on our list, has been dominating social media and securing various brand deals in recent weeks putting him in position to finish as the top ACC influencer by the end of the 2024-2025 season.

Here’s why:

Viral Content: Kemari consistently goes viral, with a video benching nearly 500 lbs reaching 4M views and a recent post about his journey from JUCO to D1 hitting nearly 10M views. A video of him squatting 605 lbs for 10 reps also earned him a feature on CBS Sports.

Brand Affinity: Kemari's intense workouts and diet videos, along with his D1 football and powerbuilder role, have attracted top fitness and supplement brands as he’s partnered with Rule One Protein, Atac App, and Top Shelf.

Follower Growth: Since the start of 2024, Kemari’s Instagram following has surged by 78% (+18K), while his TikTok following has grown by 26% (+24K).

Cross-Platform Success: In the last two months, Kemari has averaged 287K Instagram Reel plays with a 15% engagement rate and 69K TikTok views with 14% engagement.

With college football season in full force, now is the perfect time for brands to invest and launch their campaigns at visibility.

For all the insights you need for this season, check out O2W’s College Football Athlete Marketability Report HERE

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