🏅 Interview with Campus Ink NIL Director Adam Cook

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Hey there,

We’re excited to bring you an expert interview with Adam Cook, VP of Campus Ink Sports and NIL Director. Adam has played a pivotal role in helping athletes leverage their influence through innovative brand-building strategies, sponsorship opportunities, and digital media.

Under his leadership, Campus Ink has become a key player in the NIL space, offering best-in-class custom merchandise and e-commerce solutions tailored for athletes.

Whether you're a coach, athlete, or NIL professional, this interview will provide you with valuable insights into maximizing the NIL era’s opportunities.

Let’s dive into it!

— Cole, Justin and Collin

As NIL opportunities have exploded over the past few years, how has Campus Ink’s approach to brand building for student-athletes evolved to ensure they can create sustainable, long-term value?

The NIL Store has always taken a holistic approach to brand building by recognizing that each student-athlete's journey is unique. We focus not only on short-term campaigns and just getting any old shirt out, but on long-term storytelling and helping athletes tell those stories through merchandise. By providing athletes with the tools to grow their personal brands, we empower them to deepen their connection with their fans.

Our emphasis on education and guidance ensures athletes understand how to maximize the opportunities at this moment in time but hopefully, turn their NIL into a sustainable, long-term asset.

You oversee strategy, operations, and business development across sports properties and athletes. Can you share some insights into the challenges of navigating brand activations in a crowded NIL market, and how you help athletes stand out?

The NIL space is incredibly competitive, with athletes from all corners of the country looking to capitalize on their personal brands and brands chomping at the bit to get in the game. The key challenges are authenticity and speed to market—finding ways for athletes to connect with their audiences in a meaningful way rather than blending into the noise.

At the NIL Store, we focus on turning moments into merchandise. We help athletes stand out by creating custom activations that resonate with their values, ensure they are paid fairly for the use of their NIL, and help connect them to fans by creating merch that celebrates their accomplishments during a game in near real-time.

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With NIL opportunities expanding into custom merchandise, e-commerce, and digital media, what trends are you seeing in how athletes are leveraging their influence? How do these elements play into successful NIL deals today?

This isn’t a surprise to anyone, but we’re seeing a significant shift toward athletes owning their narratives. Whether through personalized merchandise or direct-to-consumer e-commerce platforms and brand activations, athletes are finding ways to engage with their fans on their terms which is great for fans, brands, and athletes alike.

Social media and digital media platforms provide immediate access to audiences, allowing athletes to build and monetize their followings in real time. The key to success in today's NIL deals lies in blending physical products like custom merchandise with digital strategies—such as exclusive content or personalized fan experiences—that amplify the athlete's brand both online and offline.

Campus Ink is connected with major agencies, athletes, and conferences. How do you work with these partners to identify rising talent and create authentic sponsorships that resonate with athletes' fanbases while staying true to their personal brands?

Collaboration is at the heart of what we do. We work closely with agencies and other partners to identify athletes who not only have rising star potential but also understand the opportunity available to them. We take the time to understand not only the athlete's personal brand but also work to create a meaningful relationship with our school partners so when we bridge the connection to the fans, it’s authentic and resonates with that particular fanbase as opposed to cookie-cutter merchandise you can get anywhere.

Whether it’s through custom NIL merchandise, digital media campaigns, or collaborations with Collectives, we ensure that any activation we develop enhances the school and the athlete’s story to enhance the brand affiliation not detract from it. That’s how you ensure long-term loyalty from fans and customers.

Looking ahead, where do you see the NIL landscape heading, particularly as more brands and athletes become involved? How do you envision Campus Ink adapting to these changes to continue driving innovation in athlete partnerships and brand building?

The NIL landscape will only continue to grow, with athletes becoming more sophisticated in how they monetize their personal brands, brands understanding the athlete and college space more, and schools leaning more into official NIL activities.

We anticipate more brands integrating athletes into broader long-term marketing strategies rather than one-off deals, resulting in deeper partnerships. The schools will be able to be more involved than ever before.

The NIL Store is well-positioned to help athletes and schools take advantage of this evolution. As new technologies emerge, such as immersive digital experiences, or even in-person fan activations, we’re constantly exploring how to adapt and integrate them into our athlete locker room shops, ensuring our athletes are able to evolve with the landscape as well. Our focus will remain on empowering athletes and schools to build meaningful, lasting connections with their fanbase.