North Carolina State Basketball Collabs with CVS Ahead of Elite Eight Win Over Duke
The Cinderella run to the Final Four for both North Carolina State’s basketball teams has been highlighted by incredible play on the court - but some may argue - equally impressive has been their opportunities to quickly activate in the NIL space.
Prior to their Elite Eight win over ACC rival Duke to advance to the school’s first Final Four in over 40 years, South Region Most Outstanding Player DJ Burns established himself as one of the Tournament’s breakout NIL stars. With March Madness deals including the likes of adidas, Intuit TurboTax, Manscaped, Raising Cane's, Daps and 76 Gas Stations, among others, Burns has been a busy man on and off the court the past few weeks.
However, his most impressive deal so far has been with CVS – sharing the spotlight with six other teammates – and creating content in between their Sweet 16 win and Elite Eight game.
Coordinated via NIL agency Postgame, The 6'9" 275-pound Burns and teammates collaborated with CVS to promote the brand’s same day delivery services available with CVS ExtraCare + and the CVS app. Wolfpack members who participated in the campaign included:
Ben Middlebrooks
Breon Pass
Casey Morsell
DJ Horn
Ernest Ross
Jordan Snell
The teammates used the CVS app to order their favorite snacks and supplies ahead of their Elite Eight matchup against Duke. Prior to dropping a season-high 29 points against the Blue Devils, Burns shared the video on his Instagram tagging their favorite food and beverages brands, including Gatorade, Doritos and Cinnamon Toast Crunch, among others.
With less than a week to prepare for No. 1 seed Purdue in the Final Four, expect Burns and the Wolfpack to continue to fuel up and pull in additional NIL opportunities.
MICHAEL EHRLICH
Michael Ehrlich is a seasoned sports marketing executive with experience across the global sports brand, athlete representation, media and education sides of the business. The Founder and CEO of Playbook Marketing, Ehrlich consults with brands on all things NIL and athlete partnerships, advises student-athletes on their personal brand building endeavors and is an adjunct professor at his alma mater, the University of Southern California where he teaches a course on athlete communications and marketing. As a writer, his previous bylines include Boardroom, Business of College Sports, DIME Magazine and UPROXX, among others. You can follow him across social media at @MichaelEhrlich and reach out via michael@playbook-marketing.com