Caitlin Clark’s college basketball career is over, but her pro career is just beginning — and fans and brands alike are buying in.
During her final collegiate season, fans lined up to watch Clark lead the University of Iowa Hawkeyes to the women’s NCAA Tournament championship game for the second straight year, and repeat broke viewership records.
When Clark declared for the WNBA draft in early March, ticket prices for the Indiana Fever, the team with the first pick in the draft, were reduced. shot up. The Las Vegas Aces touched Their July match against the Fever was at a venue with almost twice as many seats, and the W’s CMO said broadcasters were “crawl” for the rights to Fever games this season. Not long after, the league announced that 36 of the Fever’s 40 regular season games would be broadcast on national television.
Then there is their NIL value. Clark, who became the NCAA Division I all-time leading scorer last month, had the fourth-highest NIL rating of any college athlete at the end of her time playing for Iowa at $3.4 million, according to the College Sports Outlet On 3is the NIL 100 list. She has worked with a dozen brands in the past few years, including Gatorade, NikeState Farm, Gainbridge, Xfinity, H&R blockand Buick.
There is no doubt that Clark is a star on the court and perhaps one of the best college basketball players in history. But her performance and personality off the pitch have made her a hot commodity among brands wanting to be in her spotlight – and the brands that have already signed deals with her can consider themselves lucky, to say the least.
“I can’t imagine how much business she sees,” said Minji Ro, chief strategy officer for life and retirement insurance at financial services firm Gainbridge, which began a multiyear partnership with Clark in March and has been in existence since 2021 designation right to the Fever Arena. “We are thrilled, feel beside ourselves; Make your choice.”
Outside the normal measurement values
The marketers’ enthusiasm is best seen in the records Clark is breaking not only in the NCAA but also with her brand partners.
When Gatorade signed a NIL deal with Clark in late 2023, the brand’s “You Can Too” campaign quickly became the most viewed social content across all platforms, according to Brandi Ray, the brand’s head of consumer engagement. And in mid-March, Gatorade released a limited-edition water bottle and towel co-designed by Clark on its membership platform, which Ray said sold out within a day.
“She is literally one of the most dedicated athletes we have on our squadacross our channels,” Ray told Marketing Brew.
Gainbridge also sees impressive social statistics associated with Clark. The day their partnership went live on the company’s social media platforms in early March, Ro said Video The announcement received 112,000 views and a month later it was up to 1.8 million. Working with Clark was “a different game,” Ro said.
Small screen
Brands that advertised at University of Iowa games this season also saw “insane performance results,” according to Elliot Rifkin, associate director of the media buying team at TV advertising agency Tatari.
“It was astronomical, the leads or visits that we got for the price we paid for those units,” he said.
Dave Solomon, director of sports partnerships at TV advertising sales company Ampersand, said his team tried to help advertisers understand Clark’s significance even before she approached the NCAA scoring record because it’s “hard to go against cultural odds.” Selling moments” as they happen.
Clark’s success has encouraged some brands to invest more in women’s college athletics overall, said Larry Mann, a former sales executive at ESPN and founding partner of sports marketing agency rEvolution. It’s a change from previous years, when he said some marketers expressed interest in promoting women’s sports but were unwilling to “spend so much money on it” when they saw the asking price.
“I think that narrative has changed with Caitlin’s successes [and] with the successes of the Women’s soccer programsaid Mann. “It’s not, ‘We’re just doing it to check the box.'”
Seal the deal
For some brands that have signed deals with Clark, the deals have been a long time coming. It was during last year’s March Madness title game when Kristyn Cook, chief agency, sales and marketing director at State Farm, first became aware of Clark as a potential brand partner, she said, particularly after an interview in which Clark discussed her Hopes spoke your legacy would be.
“She said a few things: She wants to make the state of Iowa proud, she wants to bring joy to people, but she wants every young girl and every little boy to look up and say, ‘I can do that.’ I can achieve that. “I can dream big,” Cook said. “I think that’s when we realized right away that she would be a great partner for State Farm.”
Cook and her team reached out to Clark and her family and then traveled to Iowa to have a meal with them and talk about shared values and goals, Cook said. A multi-year contract was announced in October – State Farm’s first NIL contract and its first contract with a female athlete.
Gainbridge, in turn, first identified Clark as a sponsorship candidate late last year, Ro said, before the Fever won the draft lottery, giving them the top pick in the WNBA draft for the second year in a row.
Sweet soul
Clark’s overall attitude and her passionate fans — many of whom are younger — make her an ideal brand partner for many companies, executives told Marketing Brew.
“Caitlin is not only one of the best college basketball players of our time, but her character and high standards of excellence on and off the court make her a perfect fit,” Ray said, adding that “she means so much to young athletes. “ and young consumers today, which is why it was so effective for us.”
Clark’s star power among young viewers is more clearly reflected in some brand arrangements. As part of her partnership with Gainbridge, Clark is promoting a retirement product designed specifically for younger customers, Ro said. For State Farm, Clark embodies “what it means to be a good neighbor,” Cook said, and she has State’s brand mascot Jake Farm’s Approval stamp.
“You make a lot of commitment to a brand, and you’re clearly coming across someone that a lot of young athletes look up to,” said Joe Caporoso, president of sports and entertainment media company Team Whistle , which recently partnered with Xfinity Advertisement starring Clark. “They’re trying to emulate their style of play, and that’s exactly what you want as a brand.”
Shining future
Now that Clark’s college career is over, some of her sponsors are hoping to follow her to the big leagues – something that is not uncommon in the world of NIL. Some sports marketers have predicted that there are NIL deals could help boost women’s sports and other niche leagues as college athletes advance into professional sports.
Executives from Gatorade, Gainbridge and State Farm were all pretty tight-lipped about the future of their contracts with Clark when she joined the WNBA, but they all have multi-year deals with the athlete, and State Farm is already including her in its draft campaign. The insurance brand, the presenting sponsor of the WNBA Draft, plans to highlight Clark’s college career through a digital installation in Times Square shortly before the draft begins, and is sending Jake from State Farm to attend the draft and congratulate her in person.
Even without Clark, the work of all three brands extends to the professional league: Gatorade and State Farm are both WNBA partners, and Gainbridge has a relationship with the Fever through Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
As Clark enters the world of professional basketball, brand marketers believe there is even more room for her — and women’s sports in general — to grow.
“She has proven to be a change agent,” Ray said. “She has ushered in a new era of basketball and is driving women’s sports forward…We have no doubt her influence will continue as she moves to the WNBA.”
This report was originally published from Marketing brew.