As many students scroll through social media, they’re swamped with influencers and content creators promoting products left and right. They wonder what it would be like to partner with brands and get free packages; that is, until they see their classmates doing exactly that.
Junior Elijah Horne has a partnership with Q30, the company that makes the Q-Collar, a device people can wear around their neck to prevent brain injuries while playing sports by putting pressure on the jugular veins, he said.
He said the process of becoming a Q-Collar ambassador was easy as he simply posts on social media to promote the brand.
“I bought a Q-Collar, and I applied for a brand deal because I play sports,” Horne said. “You just post a picture with you wearing it and you’re good.”
During lacrosse season, he posts pictures of himself wearing the device, he added.
Sydnie Smith, 2023 Bexley graduate and track and field athlete at the University of Iowa, also has brand deals which help her earn money and get discounts as a student athlete, she explained.
Smith said she has been able to partner with CVS Pharmacy and Warner Bros, and she is currently working with Unbreakable Apparel and Vital Apparel.
Through Postgame—a Name, Image and Likeness campaign—Smith was able to get deals with CVS and Warner Bros., she explained. Both companies compensated her, she said, and CVS allowed her to purchase discounted products. Unbreakable and Vital have also given her discounts, she added.
“CVS was the only one that gave me a coupon to buy stuff from the store,” Smith said. “Everything else, I got paid for the work I did.”
With Unbreakable, she said she saw a girl from Iowa’s rowing team asking athletes to join the brand, and after filling the application out, she got the partnership. Getting a brand deal with Vital was a similar experience, she added.
To promote all of these brands, she talks to people around her and posts about them on social media, she said.
“I’ll post it on my main [Instagram page], and I’ll also post it periodically to get the word out,” Smith said.
Senior Whitney Fahs said she has also partnered with many brands in the past, which includes receiving PR packages. Instead of her reaching out to certain brands, brands have contacted her, she added.
B-Tan, a self-tanning company, contacted her through Instagram DMs and asked her to promote their product, she said.
“They told me they liked my content, and they sent me free products,” Fahs said.
To promote the tanning products, she had to post on her Instagram story and list a discount code, but she didn’t earn money from posting on her story, she said.
Fahs said other brands like Peach and Lily, Casely and Jimmi’s Swimwear have sent her products in the past, but she didn’t have to post about them.
“It was a gifted collab,” she explained. “So, I didn’t have any obligation to post these products.”
Horne said anyone who wants to use the code, “Elijah15,” can get 15% off their purchase of a Q-Collar. He added he gets a commission whenever someone uses his code.
Smith said she has discounts from Vital Apparel and Unbreakable Apparel, and she gets commissions every time someone uses her code.
Fahs said she gets a 20% discount from both B-Tan and Casely, but she does not get paid by the brands.
Horne explained he decided to promote Q30 because the Q-Collar is the only product on the market that can reduce brain injuries, which is something very important to him since he plays lacrosse.
“I get a lot of concussions, and Q-Collar prevents concussions,” he explained. “I stand with anything against concussions.”
Fahs said she has promoted brands in the past because she is passionate about marketing. She is planning to major in marketing and would like to find a career working in a marketing department or have a business of her own, she added.
“Marketing has always been a passion and hobby of mine,” Fahs said. “Brands noticing is definitely a plus, but never my goal.”
Smith said she likes promoting brands that spread positive messages. Vital Apparel donates money to fund mental health research, and that’s an aspect she likes about the brand, she added.
Being an athlete is a full-time job, so working with brands helps her make money during the season, she said. She added she would like to keep having brand deals in the future.
“If I could play and promote at the same time, that would be great, and I think the brands would want that because athletes share that aura to people,” Smith said.
