For our last preparation meeting before Marketing Employers Networking Night (MENN), we partnered with UMD’s Sports Business Society to welcome Peter Iwuh and his team from Tykoon Sports, the first black-owned NIL marketing agency. Iwuh is the CEO and founder of this marketing conglomerate. He is also an author and entrepreneur from Prince George’s County, MD, and has worked for various companies such as Disney and Meta. During this meeting, Iwuh hosts a workshop to teach students about NIL and share Tykoon Sport’s mission and values.
Iwuh starts with an icebreaker, asking the audience “Where did you first hear about NIL? What does it mean to you?” Right away, someone answers that NIL stands for “Name, Image, Likeness.” Iwuh summarizes that this term is essentially “influencer marketing, but student-athlete edition.”
More about NIL
In June 2021, the NCAA implemented a policy allowing student-athletes to make money from their personal brand
NIL refers to the use of an athlete’s “Name, Image, Likeness” through marketing and promotional endeavors
College athletes are now able to leverage their audience and personal brand to collaborate with businesses they align with, express their interests, and impact the communities that support them
Opportunities with NIL include product/service reviews, meet and greets, community activations, and more
More about Tykoon Sports
The primary goal of this Gen-Z-led and operated agency is to “increase the exposure of clients’ brands and help them monetize their career early so they can dedicate time, focus, and energy to performing at their best.” Tykoon Sports prides itself on its personal brand building, brand partnerships, and merchandise development, showcasing the athletes' personalities by coming up with content ideas and organically collaborating with organizations that align with the athlete’s hobbies and interests. They sum the innovation of their business through an equation, where Talent + Passions + Value + Unique Angle = Unique Selling Proposition (USP).
Moreover, Tykoon Sports has accomplished over 100 partnerships, and through his presentation, Iwuh highlights how they collaborated with certain brands, such as Electrolit and THB Deli. He engages the audience by asking them to guess what the athletes specifically promoted for the brands.
As for the future of Tykoon Sports, Iwuh and his team are currently developing a mobile application for student-athletes to track the progress of their personal brand. Including an AI marketing assistant, brand partnership opportunities, merchandise sales overview, and social media goal setting, this app differs from the many others that only focus on one of these features, making the influencer experience easier to manage for their clients.
Activity
For the last part of the meeting, Iwuh breaks students off into three groups and shares a PDF of real-life student-athletes and their backgrounds, hobbies/interests, and brands they would want to partner with. Each group then selects one of the athletes and spends 15 minutes brainstorming marketing strategies to expand their influencer presence. Groups come up with two ideas and link providing evidence of their inspiration. When 15 minutes are up, each group shares their ideas.
This activity is a great way for students to meet new people and step in the shoes of Tykoon Sports staff. One group suggested that a basketball player who wants to collaborate with Sweetgreens should create her own specialty bowl, inspiring other athletes to fuel up before games with fresh greens and protein. Another group came up with the idea of their volleyball player promoting BodyArmor, one of the brands she listed, by drinking it in an advertisement after coaching a youth volleyball game, as one of her passions is mentoring the younger generation.
If you missed the meeting, but still want to try out this activity, here is the document with the different student-athletes and their backgrounds.
AMA wants to thank Peter Iwuh and his team for visiting us today. If you want to connect with Iwuh, check out his LinkedIn. If interested in learning more about the strategies behind NIL, Iwuh has published a book called “The Gameplan for NIL Success: Championing Your Brand As a Student Athlete,” which you can purchase on Amazon. Whether you are an aspiring student-athlete influencer or a business student interested in marketing, Tykoon Sports has many services and learning opportunities to offer!
- Chaewon Cheon
Comments