Overview

Grüns, a health and wellness brand focused on providing high-quality, nutrient-rich products, recognized the immense influence athletes have on college campuses. As a newcomer to the athlete influencer space, they saw an opportunity to connect with a fitness-focused, college-aged audience but lacked a streamlined process for identifying and activating the right athletes at scale.

By partnering with Out2Win, Grüns simplified athlete discovery and recruitment, focusing on micro-athletes who could generate organic, user-driven content. With data-backed insights and a more structured approach, they successfully leveraged college athletes to build authentic brand awareness and engagement within their target market.

The Challenge

As a brand new to athlete influencer marketing, Grüns faced a fundamental question: where to begin. With countless athletes across various platforms, navigating this space was time-consuming and overwhelming. They needed a structured, scalable way to discover and activate the right athletes while ensuring their content aligned with the brand’s fitness-oriented audience.

Lack of Experience with Athlete-Driven UGC

Grüns had never worked with athletes to create user-generated content (UGC) and needed guidance on how to structure partnerships effectively. Without a clear strategy, securing high-quality, authentic content was a challenge.

Struggling to Identify the Right Athletes

Finding athletes who genuinely resonated with Grüns' college-aged, fitness-focused audience was difficult without data-driven insights. Without visibility into an athlete’s engagement, content style, and audience demographics, they risked partnering with athletes who wouldn’t drive meaningful brand impact.

Need for an Efficient, Scalable Approach

Manually searching for athletes and managing outreach wasn’t sustainable. Grüns needed a streamlined, data-driven solution to identify, connect with, and activate athletes at scale while ensuring a smooth campaign execution process.

The Solution

Out2Win provided Grüns with the tools and insights needed to successfully launch their first athlete influencer campaign, making the transition into NIL marketing seamless and efficient.

Data-Driven Athlete Discovery

Grüns used Out2Win’s platform to identify athletes based on follower count, audience demographics, and content categories like health and fitness. This allowed them to focus on athletes who aligned with their target market and could drive meaningful engagement.

Instant Access to Micro-Athletes

By leveraging Out2Win’s network tag, Grüns immediately gained access to over 40 micro-athletes specializing in UGC content, ranging from 5K to 50K followers. This eliminated the guesswork and manual effort typically involved in recruiting the right influencers.

The Results

Grüns’ first athlete influencer campaign was a resounding success, marking their entry into NIL marketing with impactful results:

• Over 40 micro-athletes participated, creating authentic UGC content that resonated with their college-aged, fitness-focused audience.

  
  

• The campaign significantly increased social media mentions and engagement within their target demographic.

  
  

• Athlete-generated content authentically reflected Grüns’ brand values, strengthening consumer trust and connection.

  
  

• By streamlining recruitment and campaign management, Grüns scaled their influencer marketing efforts efficiently without the typical challenges of managing multiple athletes manually.