Spring & INFLCR are empowering NCAA athletes to monetize their audience by creating and selling digital and physical products
Spring (formerly Teespring), the leading creator commerce platform, has just announced a first-of-its-kind partnership with INFLCR, the leading platform for athlete brand building. The innovative partnership gives collegiate athletes easy, compliant access to Spring’s direct-to-consumer sales platform where they can establish their own digital storefront. They will be able to design and sell both digital and physical merchandise, allowing the next generation of sports stars to become creators in their own right, harnessing their direct relationship with fans and nurturing an entrepreneurial spirit.
Under new NIL laws, the NCAA now allows student-athletes to earn an income from the use of their name, image and likeness. This is the first time student athletes will be able to legally monetize their fan base. Thanks to Spring’s full-scale ecommerce platform, this partnership will equip Teamworks’ and INFLCR’s 100,000+ athlete user base with the most innovative, efficient technologies as well as design support to maximize their brand potential by monetizing via social commerce.
NCAA athletes can now launch their own custom Spring storefront, complete with bespoke physical merchandise, NFTs and digital products. These storefronts can be seamlessly integrated on social platforms including the likes of Instagram, TikTok and YouTube via Spring’s industry leading platform partnerships. Integrated storefronts will drive social commerce engagement with fans, on platforms where they already interact most with their favourite athletes. These integrations will help athletes optimize their brand potential and drive revenue. In addition to this, partnership athletes will receive a $1.90 discount on all core apparel products.
College World Series Softball Player, Kiersten Landers at Florida State says, “As a student athlete working with INFLCR, I am thrilled to explore my personal brand potential with the capabilities of this new partnership with Spring unlocks. It is beyond exciting to be able to engage with my fans in a way I haven’t been able to before, with the support from industry leading partners. I never thought during my time as an NCAA athlete we would be able to monetise under the new NIL laws, and what better way to start this journey than with merchandise?”.
By starting their social commerce venture with Spring, INFLCR’s athletes will receive resources to set them up for success. This includes:
In-App Education
Spring will provide education on best practices that will live in INFLCR’s Storyteller Playbook, which students can access on-demand via desktop or via the INFLCR app using their mobile device.
In-App Reporting
All athlete transactions generated with Spring will be reported to the INFLCR Verified Ledger, to cover all required reporting for collegiate athletes. This activity will be updated in real time to ensure athletes do not jeopardize eligibility through their NIL opportunities.
VP of Marketing at Spring, Les Green says: “We are truly excited to be working with INFLCR to empower athletes to create their own merchandise. At Spring we put the creator first and through our industry-leading design capabilities, we look forward to supporting athletes in the creation of both digital and physical merchandise. This partnership will help athletes to harness their relationship with their fans as they step into the creator realm and finally have the opportunity to create additional revenue streams.”
CEO and Founder at INFLCR, Jim Cavale says: “As athletes build their brands and gain rights to monetize their name, image and likeness, we see e-commerce as a natural opportunity for them. Partnering with Spring, the leader in their industry, will put education and opportunity at the fingertips of athletes so they can navigate this new landscape compliantly, to create and sell their own merchandise in a way that content-creators and social influencers have made extremely popular and lucrative.”
As the bridge between creators and commerce, Spring supports, elevates and propels creators forward, not thinking about the new normal, but instead, the ‘new possible’. The introduction of NFTs and digital products to the platform, demonstrates the innovation of Spring’s tools and capabilities, expanding far beyond traditional merchandise. Spring has seen over 100 creators become millionaires as a result of selling on the platform.
The success of platform social integrations resulted in explosive growth for Spring, with more than 1.3 million verified creators signing up to the platform to build their socially integrated ecommerce stores as of June 2021. New creator growth has exploded by 160%, alongside a 93% growth in the number of creators who are actively selling their products through the platform.
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