Fanatics wanted to gain relevancy with college football fans. NIL deals were dominating conversation in the sport, but only athletes can get them. Fanatics is about the fan, & while fans can’t play on the field, they can play in the video game EA Sports College Football 25. Millions were creating themselves as virtual athletes in the game. 

So we got fans in on NIL by signing their virtual athletes to real world NIL Deals.

Consumers first experienced the campaign on streaming star Sketch’s Twitch channel, where Sketch had been streaming with his own virtual athlete, Sari Fercussin. We launched by giving the first NIL deal to Sari, a character fans already knew and loved. Then, we created an integrated campaign around Sari, as if he were a real world star. The campaign was shared on Sketch & Fanatic’s social channels & fans were asked to submit their virtual athlete’s highlights for a chance to get an NIL deal of their own. In the end, we awarded 6 virtual athlete NIL deals.