For over 50 years, the Icy Hot brand has been committed to delivering purposeful, targeted pain relief to fuel resilience and empower consumers to rise from pain. But for muscles and joints that have been pushed to their limits, Icy Hot sought to convey the amplified effectiveness, safety, and fast-acting relief from their new Icy Hot Pro portfolio of products. The brand wanted to improve engagement among a younger audience.
In collaboration with six college athletes, Icy Hot Pro’s NIL campaign showcased how new Icy Hot Pro products play a pivotal role in treating pain, facilitating quick recovery, and enabling peak performance. The campaign also shed light on the diverse usage occasions of the Icy Hot Pro products, illustrating that they work on multiple points of pain. This ensures athletes can address discomfort comprehensively and be supported in reaching their performance peaks.
By marrying brand messaging with real athlete endorsements, the Icy Hot Pro NIL campaign successfully aligns with the brand's ethos and serves as a beacon for those seeking optimal recovery and performance in their athletic pursuits.
To inform the type of content that would most resonate with prospective consumers, those who push their muscles and joints to their limits, Icy Hot partnered with six college athletes across Division 1 universities to demonstrate the variety of use cases and fast-acting relief of Icy Hot Pro products. The brand selected a roster of athletes who came from a variety of sports, and who have built relatively strong social followings across relevant platforms not only in terms of number of followers but also levels of engagement.
Icy Hot Pro’s NIL campaign used targeted college athlete partnerships to bring awareness and fuel resilience for consumers as they rise from pain. These well-known athletes included Cameron Brink, senior small forward at Stanford University (391K total social reach); Talitha Diggs, senior track and field athlete at University of Florida (58K total reach); Leanne Wong, junior gymnast at the University of Florida (61K total reach); Dontavious Hill, recent track and field graduate of Auburn University (160K total reach); Mycah Pittman, senior wide receiver at the University of Utah (373K total reach); and John Rhys Plumlee, a fifth year football and baseball athlete at UCF (123K total reach).
Leaning into the athletes for storytelling was a strategy imperative, which generated authenticity that resonated with consumers. Icy Hot leveraged influencers in an organic and authentic way by allowing the athletes to lead their content development , with the help of guidelines from the brand, to drive audience engagement and interest. UEG Worldwide and Icy Hot worked along side the athletes as they developed content to ensure it delivers on brand messaging while remaining authentic to their voice and audience.
The execution of Icy Hot Pro’s NIL campaign involved creating and distributing highly engaging content, rooted in a strategic social and push. The campaign involved 65 total posts across Instagram, X (Twitter), TikTok, and Facebook. Through eye-catching visuals, relatable storytelling, and a variety of athletes and sports represented through our partnerships, the campaign effectively conveyed its message and connected with the target audience.
This campaign achieved exceptional results in terms of audience reach, engagement and brand recognition. Icy Hot Pro’s NIL campaign leveraged the power of authentic collegiate athlete partnerships across social channels and successfully drove 621,306 impressions. The TikTok engagement rate of 9.6% outperformed the benchmark by 37%. The Instagram engagement rate of 8.5% outperformed the benchmark by 70%. These illustrated the content's effectiveness in meeting the brand’s objective of engaging a younger audience.
Furthermore, conversation was overwhelmingly positive at 95%, exceeded benchmarks by 8%. Fans were quick to hype up the athletes, expressing appreciation for the collaboration, and improvising “Icy Hot” emoji combinations and sharing their love for the brand.
The campaign also produced a 1.3% click-through link rate to priority retailers, which outperformed benchmarks by 1.2%, demonstrating strong interest and intent from the audience to learn more about Icy Hot Pro’s products and solutions.
The strategic insights and targeted execution allowed Icy Hot Pro to position itself as a trusted brand to help consumers recover fast and perform at their peak.
