The real winners of March Madness? Brands that move fast on NIL deals
Brands like Every Man Jack and NYX are signing college athletes via NIL deals to drive March Madness marketing, with Every Man Jack's product line launching exclusively at Target. NIL deal volume has surged since 2021, with food, beverage, and QSR brands leading activity.
Target-exclusive product launches tied to athlete NIL campaigns signal that retailers are co-developing brand moments — this creates shelf placement and traffic advantages competitors without athlete partnerships won't get. Brands selling at Target should monitor whether athlete-tied exclusives are displacing generic SKUs in personal care and similar categories.
Retailer-exclusive NIL launches represent a new competitive dynamic where brand marketing spend directly translates to physical and digital shelf advantages — compressing organic visibility for brands that don't invest in cultural moments.
Check Target.com category rankings for personal care and grooming weekly during March — if NIL-tied SKUs (like Every Man Jack's Full Court line) are climbing, adjust your ad bids and pricing on competing ASINs immediately.
In the next 30 days, audit whether any competitor brands in your category have announced NIL or influencer exclusives with Target, Walmart, or Amazon — if yes, prepare a promotional response before tournament finals (early April).
Bottom Line
NIL exclusives at Target give partnered brands a shelf edge competitors won't see coming.
Source Lens
Industry Context
Useful background context, but lower-priority than direct platform, community, or operator intelligence.
Impact Level
low
NIL exclusives at Target give partnered brands a shelf edge competitors won't see coming.
Key Stat / Trigger
NCAA revenue sharing cap of $20.5 million per school for 2025-26
Focus on the operational implication, not just the headline.
Full Coverage
Digital Marketing Redux // March 18, 2026 The real winners of March Madness? Brands that move fast on NIL deals By Julia Waldow NYX Professional Makeup Consumer brands and retailers aren’t sitting on the sidelines this March Madness.
Companies across sectors, from footwear to personal care, are racing to sign college basketball players and feature them in marketing materials as the NCAA tournament gets underway.
Earlier this month, Jordan Brand announced it was working with University of Connecticut shooting guard Azzi Fudd, while NYX Professional Makeup said it was joining forces with UCLA center Lauren Betts. On March 16, Freddy’s, a custard and burger chain, announced deals with 10 collegiate athletes in Arizona, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.
These partnerships — classified as Name, Image and Likeness deals — are becoming a major area of investment for brands. NIL deals allow NCAA athletes to profit off their personal branding through sponsorships, endorsements and social media posts. The U. S.
Supreme Court cleared the path for these terms in 2021, and since then, college athletes have made millions of dollars without losing eligibility to play for their schools. NIL deals are also a win for brands, as they offer a lower-cost way to participate in major sporting events. 2026 marks the fifth March Madness since the NIL rules went into effect.
Partnerships have evolved a lot in that time, said Caroline Ryan, vp of brand marketing and head of talent strategy at Excel Sports Management.
Today, brands are “treating athletes as creators and storytellers, rather than relying on traditional endorsement-style posts where athletes simply tag a brand,” she said, citing more personal content like “get-ready-with-me” videos.
Ryan calculated that food, beverage and QSR brands are driving “the highest deal volume,” when it comes to NIL deals during March Madness. How brands work with athletes is also drawing attention from Washington. In 2025, an antitrust settlement permitted the NCAA to allow schools to share revenue of up to $20.
5 million directly with student athletes, for the ’25-’26 school year. The cap will increase by around 4% each year, ending in 2035. U. S. President Donald Trump has advocated for changing the NIL rules, calling to “establish a fair standard” for student athletes, “without endless litigation.”
A proposed bill to amend the rules, called the SCORE Act, failed to pass in the House after several conservatives voiced their opposition. Highlighting ‘a breakout player’ The first round of NCAA men’s tournament games began on March 16, while the NCAA women’s tournament games started on March 17.
This year’s March Madness is expected to draw large viewership numbers; more people tuned in to the first two rounds of the men’s tournament last year than in any year since 1993. By taking advantage of this hype, brands get an opportunity to drive engagement, awareness and conversion, especially among the coveted cohort of Gen Z.
Men’s care brand Every Man Jack is partnering with University of Michigan point guard Elliot Cadeau on several initiatives. The 21-year-old is appearing in social media campaigns for the brand’s new Full Court collection of under-$10 deodorants and body washes, available exclusively at Target.
Cadeau also taped a two-minute YouTube interview with Every Man Jack, in which he spoke candidly about playing basketball while being partially deaf. Every Man Jack’s work with Cadeau is part of the brand’s larger refresh effort, which includes updating its marketing to be more sports-forward and to emphasize values like grit and perseverance.
Ambassadors like Cadeau “are the living embodiment of this brand,” Nicklaus Hasselberg, vp of growth marketing and e-commerce at Every Man Jack, told Modern Retail. “We want to highlight the hero’s journey — men that have undeniable talent, but have faced adversity in a very public way, in one way or another,” he said.
“Elliot is a breakout player for Michigan, and we wanted to highlight his story.” Every Man Jack is also working with Barstool Sports on March Madness programming. It’s running ads on Barstool Sports’ website and YouTube channel, and it plans to give out samples of the Full Court collection at Barstool Sports’ Final Four activation in April.
Every Man Jack had a similar partnership with Barstool Sports for last year’s March Madness and saw “very positive return from that investment,” including an 8% increase in brand awareness, Hasselberg said. In turn, “we went even bigger with Barstool this year,” he said.
‘We have to pay attention’ NYX Professional Makeup made 22-year-old Betts the face of the latest iteration of its
Original Source
This briefing is based on reporting from Modern Retail. Use the original post for full primary-source context.
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