Can a Greenville-based agency supercharge Clemson’s NIL deals? The university hopes so.
CLEMSON — A scene opens on Clemson linebacker Sammy Brown in a nondescript field. He’s casually dressed in a hoodie and sweatpants. He’s high-strung, however, as he draws up a blitz on a whiteboard.
He commands “Jimmy” to hit the A gap. He barks at “Bob” to attack the B gap.
“I’m coming off that edge,” Brown says as he draws a black arrow to a Nerds gummy conspicuously placed on the board, “and I’m gonna get the bag!”
With that proclamation, a football-themed video fully reveals its motives. The advertisement cuts to a shot of Brown snatching a bag of Nerds off the grass. Then it cuts to Brown opening that bag and popping a gummy in his mouth.
A country boy who floods his Instagram page with football and fishing posts tells nearly 50,000 followers to “unleash” their “senses” with a flavorful snack. Millions more will hear the same message this week from women’s basketball twins Haley and Hanna Cavinder and 17-year-old tennis prodigy Anna Frey.
It all leads up to a Super Bowl commercial featuring musical artist Shaboozey, which will plant Nerds in the consciousness of tens of millions more.
What ties Brown, Frey and the Cavinder twins together is they are all clients of Greenville-based Everett Sports Marketing, which was tasked with identifying athletes to reinforce Nerds’ advertising campaign on social media.
What sets Brown apart is he won’t pay a dime to ESM because the agency has partnered with Clemson to find NIL deals for its student-athletes.
