The landscape of name, image and likeness deals in sports has allowed collegiate and high school athletes to earn money by promoting certain products. But there are some restrictions, specifically in what brands athletes can wear while representing their schools.
Many top college athletes play for universities that have apparel deals with Nike, Under Armor, Adidas and sport-specific national brands. For smaller brands like Avoli, which calls itself the first girl’s volleyball-specific footwear maker, this makes it nearly impossible to get their shoes on the feet of some of the best players in the game.
But Avoli’s co-founders, Rick Anguilla and Mark Oleson, have found a way around this, and have turned the once-restricting world of NIL into something that can be used to their brand’s advantage, through the power of social media and marketing.
“When you think about how the platform for the athlete didn't exist before social media, and the advent of social media, and a platform where an athlete can speak directly to peers and young athletes, that's the bogey,” said Anguilla.
Avoli has several athletes signed to name, image and likeness deals, including Reilly Heinrich from the University of Texas and Harper Murray from the University of Nebraska. Because these schools have uniform deals with Nike, Heinrich and Murray cannot wear Avoli’s shoes in games or during in-season practices.
But what they can do is market Avoli’s shoes on Instagram to their combined 72,000 followers.
“We use the athletes to help give us authenticity and credibility,” Anguilla said. “We launched the mids in November, and instead of coming in with what would traditionally be ‘Okay, now let's do a whole different campaign on that,’ we just took five good college players — most of them have made the tournament — and just had them do an unboxing.”
Volleyball-specific shoes practically didn’t exist before Avoli. Most volleyball players wear basketball shoes because they perform the closest to what they need, Oleson and Anguilla previously said.
The two tailored the design of the Avoli shoes to the needs of volleyball players need: a cushioned and wider forefoot, a thinner heel for stability and support and airflow through the arch of the shoe.
Oleson and Anguilla have said the NIL athletes have become ambassadors who can connect with even younger players.
“(The NIL athletes) have been integral in terms of the spikes in traffic and sales,” said Anguilla.
And the benefits don’t stop there for Avoli. Anguilla said that the startup has been in recent brand deal conversations with a few of the thousands of volleyball clubs that exist around the country. This could be another way, Anguilla said, that they can work around the NIL rules and reach its target audience better.
Anguilla said it has been difficult to figure out what they, as a brand, can and cannot do, given that NIL laws are different in every state. Additionally, NIL is still an ever-changing landscape, and Anguilla expects it will continue to evolve.
“I think what could be interesting over time with the NIL is you could see that brands will pay for sponsorship and relationships for the uniform piece, but maybe not for footwear,” Anguilla said. “Footwear is just such a personal issue.”
