How Sweetgreen harnessed NIL to create fresh and culturally resonant content
Athlytic, an athlete influencer & brand marketplace, enlisted four University of Minnesota athletes to create social media content for Sweetgreen, a quick serve brand that serves healthy salads. This NIL deal saw high engagement and press coverage, resulting in an ROI-positive social media strategy.
Why Sweetgreen chose Athlytic
At Athlytic we’re extremely focused on partnering with digital-centric brands, harnessing NIL in fresh and culturally resonant ways.
The goal? To craft campaigns that not only resonate within the culture but also deliver tangible value to both the brands themselves and the athletes involved.
Recently, we teamed up with Sweetgreen for a second time, this time at the University of Minnesota as they gear up to engage their community for the upcoming football and back to school season.
White glove service
Athlytic acted as a creative consultant in coming up with the exact activities that made up the engagement, as well as provided white glove service to ensure the event was both easy and valuable.
Campaign strategy
Our strategy zeroes in on community-specific campaigns, an arena where NCAA athletes truly shine as authentic creators.
For Sweetgreen, we honed in on skill position athletes who genuinely connect with the idea of clean eating and grasp how their dietary choices impact their performance.
The starting lineup
"I've had issues with cramps in games in the past, so I've been more adamant about the type of food I eat to make sure my body is in its peak shape to perform at my best during games."
Elijah Spencer
“At my position, I'm pretty much running during the entire game, so it's crucial to watch what I put into my body before a game."
Darius Taylor
The main event
To infuse authenticity and engagement, we orchestrated a day where the athletes immersed themselves in the Sweetgreen experience.
The athletes arrived at the Sweetgreen located on the University of Minnesota’s campus in Minneapolis, eager to participate in three games:
Sweetgreen/Minnesota trivia
a crispy rice bowl blind taste test
and a Sweetgreen dressing blind taste test
Athletes got paid $25 per correct answer. Naturally, their competitive spirit kicked in, leading to a golden bowl being awarded to the victor.
Beyond their cash winnings, the athletes were engaged and professional, had a fun afternoon, and enjoyed their favorite salads.
Campaign results
Content as organic as Sweetgreen’s salads.
As anticipated, local college audiences engaged at a high rate with the content across social platforms. The partnership even garnered media attention, stoking the campaign's momentum.
The value of authentic content to Sweetgreen
The performance of the content showed the value of college athlete creators in the NIL era. Athletes tend to see higher engagement on their social media, and this campaign was no different- the athletes posted an average of a 10% engagement rate, compared to a 2% industry average.
Combine the localized reach with a high engagement rate, and Sweetgreen realized a lot of brand value from this campaign. The brand is using this marketing not only to increase their brand awareness, but also their customer base through use of a promo code (Gopher7 for anyone that’s hungry in Minneapolis!)
A Glimpse into the future
This initiative is a mere glimpse into the multitude of campaigns we're collaboratively crafting with our partners.
Our aim? To shift from lackluster, isolated NIL posts to immersive, authentic experiences that resonate.
