Business Case Studies & Business Publications

The Good Feet Store: Sponsoring College ...

Whitler, Kimberly,...

Case

The Good Feet Store: Sponsoring College Athletes in the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) Era

Whitler, Kimberly; Puto, Christopher P.; Maiden, Stephen E.

M-1050 | Published May 20, 2024 | 18 pages Case

Collection: Darden School of Business

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This case introduces the challenges and decision criteria for businesses seeking to sponsor student athletes in the advent of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA's) landmark decision to authorize collegiate student athletes to monetize their name, image, and likeness (NIL), just as professional athletes and other celebrities have always done. The case follows Jonathan Cotten, president of Easy Step Enterprises (Easy Step), a franchisee for the Good Feet Store based in Richmond, Virginia, as he explores the possibility of using college athletes as social media influencers to stimulate demand for the Good Feet Store locations his company operates. The primary focus of this case is not on franchisee–franchisor relations, but rather on the strategic decision processes a business must consider when exploring the emerging opportunity to engage college student athletes as social media influencers. Because of their youth and relative inexperience, college student athletes pose different challenges and issues compared to the longer-established engagement of professional athletes and celebrities in similar roles. This case highlights these differences and encourages careful integration of criteria for executing these decisions.

- Students will understand: (1) social media from the perspective of a sponsor, and (2) brand-alignment principles companies use when deciding which collegiate athletes to sponsor. - Collegiate student athletes will learn the differential impacts of creating a “social brand” designed for interacting with student peers versus an “athlete brand” designed to create value for sponsors who are willing to pay student athletes for their NIL.