Caitlin Clark’s college basketball career has come to an end, but her professional career is just beginning, and fans and brands alike are accepting.
During her final college season, fans lined up to watch Clark lead the University of Iowa Hawkeyes to the championship game of the women’s NCAA tournament for the second consecutive year, and the games repeatedly broke attendance records .
When Clark declared for the WNBA draft in early March, ticket prices to see the Indiana Fever, the team with the No. 1 pick in the draft, skyrocketed. The Las Vegas Aces moved their July matchup against the Fever to a venue with nearly double the capacity, and the W’s CMO said broadcasters are “fighting” 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 TV.
Then there is its 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 at Iowa, at $3.4 million, according to the NIL List 100 of the university sports outlet On3. She has already worked with a dozen brands in the past two years, including Gatorade, Nike, State Farm, Gainbridge, Xfinity, H&R Block and Buick.
There is no doubt that Clark is a star on the court and perhaps one of the best collegiate basketball players in history. But her performances off the court and her personality have made her a hot commodity among brands looking to share her spotlight, and brands that have already struck deals with her feel lucky, to say the least .
“I can’t imagine the volume of business he’s seeing,” said Minji Ro, head of life and annuity strategy at financial services firm Gainbridge, which began a multiyear partnership with Clark in March and which, as of 2021, holds the naming rights to the Fever arena. “We are excited, honored, beside ourselves; Make your choice.”
Off the charts
Marketers’ enthusiasm might be best evidenced by the records Clark is breaking, not just in the NCAA, but for its brand partners.
When Gatorade inked an 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 launched a limited-edition water bottle and towel co-designed by Clark on its subscription platform, which Ray said sold out in about a day.
“She is literally one of the most engaged athletes we have on our roster, across our channels,” Ray told Marketing Brew.
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Gainbridge is also seeing impressive social statistics associated with Clark. The day their partnership went live on the company’s social media platforms in early March, Ro said the video announcing it garnered 112,000 views, rising to 1.8 million a month later. Working with Clark is “a different ballgame,” 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 television advertising agency Tatari.
“It was astronomical, the leads or visits we got for the price we paid for these units,” he said.
Dave Solomon, director of sports partnerships for TV ad sales firm Ampersand, said that because “it’s hard to sell against cultural moments” as they happen, his team has tried to help advertisers understand the importance of Clark even before he came close to the NCAA scoring record.
Clark’s success has encouraged some brands to invest more in women’s college athletics at all levels, said Larry Mann, former vice president of sales at ESPN and founding partner of sports marketing agency rEvolution. That’s a change from years past, when he said some marketers expressed interest in sponsoring women’s sports but weren’t willing to “bet that amount of money” when they saw the asking price.
“I think the narrative has changed with Caitlin’s successes [and] with the successes of the women’s soccer program,” Mann said. “It’s not, ‘We’re just doing this to check the box.’”
Seal the deal
For some brands that have struck deals with Clark, the deals have been a long time coming. It was during last year’s March Madness title game that Kristyn Cook, head of agency, sales and marketing at State Farm, first noticed Clark as a potential brand partner, she said, especially after a interview in which Clark talked about what he hoped his legacy would be.
“He said a couple of things: He wants to make the state of Iowa proud, he wants to bring joy to people, but he wants every girl and every boy to look up and say, ‘I can do this. I can make it happen. I can dream big,” Cook said. “Right then, I think that’s when we knew she would be a great partner for State Farm.”
Cook and his team contacted Clark and his family, then traveled to Iowa to sit down for lunch with them and talk about common values and goals, Cook said. A multi-year deal, State Farm’s first NIL deal and its first deal with a female athlete, was announced in October.
Gainbridge, meanwhile, identified Clark as eligible for an endorsement late last year, Ro said, before the Fever won the lottery, landing the No. 1 pick in the WNBA draft for the second straight year.
Cute layout
Clark’s overall attitude and adoring fans, many of whom are younger, make her an ideal brand partner for many companies, executives told Marketing Brew.
“Not only is Caitlin one of the best players in college basketball today, but her character and high standards of excellence on and off the court are what make her a perfect addition,” Ray said, adding that she “so represents so much for today’s young athletes and young consumers, that’s why it’s been so effective for us.”
Clark’s star power among young audiences is most explicitly reflected in some brand deals. As part of its partnership with Gainbridge, Clark is promoting an annuity product designed specifically for younger clients, Ro said. For State Farm, Clark “embodies what it means to be a good neighbor,” Cook said, and has the stamp of approval from Jake, the State Farm brand mascot.
“For a brand, you’re getting great engagement and, clearly, you’re meeting someone that a lot of young athletes look up to,” said Joe Caporoso, president of sports and entertainment media company Team Whistle, which partnered with Xfinity in a recent commercial featuring Clark. “They’re trying to emulate his playing, and that’s exactly what you want as a brand.”
Bright future
With Clark’s college career winding down, some of her sponsors are hoping to follow her to the big leagues, which isn’t unheard of in the NIL world. Some sports marketers have predicted that NIL deals could help promote women’s sports and more niche leagues as college athletes graduate into professional sports.
Executives at Gatorade, Gainbridge and State Farm were all fairly tight-lipped about the future of their deals with Clark when she joins the WNBA, but they all have multi-year deals with the athlete and State Farm is already including her in its campaign around the draft . The insurance brand, the title sponsor of the WNBA draft, plans to highlight Clark’s college career through a digital installation in Times Square just before the draft begins, and will send Jake from State Farm to attend the draft and congratulate her in person.
Even without Clark, all three brands’ work 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 anticipate there will be even more room for her, and women’s sports in general, to grow.
“He has proven himself to be an agent of change,” Ray said. “She ushered in a new era of basketball and is pushing women’s sports forward… We have no doubt her impact will continue as she heads to the WNBA.”
This report was originally published by Marketing Brew.