7 minute read
Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon
Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon
NOT A TYPO. THAT’S THE IOWA PORK PRODUCERS NIL DEAL ENCOURAGING CONSUMERS TO ENJOY THIS MEALTIME STAPLE.
By Gretchen Westdal Centers
In a state like Iowa, where pigs outnumber people — that’s 7.3 pigs to every resident — Iowans are more than familiar with the animal. But a slump in pork sales in 2023 had the Iowa Pork Producers Association (IPPA) seeking creativity to ensure the protein-filled staple was making it back onto weekly meal-prep menus and that Iowa pork producers felt supported.
So, they told people, via a picture, to Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon. That’s not a typo. That was the start of a serendipitous marketing deal that used Iowa State University (ISU) football players’ last names to market pork products.
What’s an NIL?
NIL stands for name, image and likeness. In 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) started to allow college athletes to earn money via endorsements, sponsorships and social media promotions using their name, image or likeness. NIL deals can vary widely in value, from small payments to substantial contracts, depending on the athlete’s popularity and marketability. Overall, these deals empower athletes to take control of their financial opportunities during their college careers.
“It’s a rather new thing, and if you would’ve asked somebody 10, 15 years ago if this would happen in college athletics, they would say, no way,” explains Kevin Hall, communications director for IPPA. “Today, it’s an opportunity for associations like IPPA to partner with college athletes and help find ways to promote our product and industry. We found a really unique way to do it with some ISU football players who weren’t well-known then.”
What’s in a Name?
Those student-athletes went from being known among their team and ISU fans to going absolutely viral. It all started with a photo.
“It emerged really fast,” recalls Hall. “During ISU’s first game last season [in 2023], Tommy Hamann and Caleb Bacon were on the field next to each other with their backs to the fans. So, Hamann Bacon is what viewers saw. An ISU fan took a photo, tweeted it out and tagged Iowa Pork and said, ‘Hey, Iowa Pork, can we get these guys an NIL deal?’”
Hall explains that he made a few calls and texts, including to Joyce Hoppes, the consumer information director for IPPA. She immediately responded with an enthusiastic “YES!!!”
Just a few short days later, the team at IPPA began organizing what was needed to pursue the NIL deal, until IPPA staff saw something that made them stop in their tracks. While looking at the team roster, they noticed two more players: Myles Purchase and Tyler Moore.
Together, not only did they help make up a solid football team, but they also rounded out an amazing opportunity for IPPA to promote their product in a way that had never been done before.
Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann and Caleb Bacon signed an NIL deal with IPPA and Hall got to work cooking up the creative.
“I spent the weekend before cooking a ham and 14 pounds of bacon,” recalls Hall. “We went to Ames and did a photo shoot with the players. We put it on our social media a week later, and it just took off like crazy.”
A Reach Far Beyond the Heartland
Within three hours, the picture posted to X, formerly Twitter, garnered 1 million views. Within 12 hours, it was 2 million views. IPPA followed their usual protocol: they put out a news release and talked with some statewide media — anticipating it would get traction in Iowa.
Little did they know the reach would go worldwide.
“The tweet itself was enormously popular,” Hall says. “Local media picked it up, and they were doing segments on it, not even necessarily in the sportscast, but in other news segments about how fun it was, and then we saw national media cover it.”
Hall goes on to explain the continued momentum of the photo. ESPN Sports Center tweeted the picture, which had around 3.5 million views. By the end of the week, TV stations in Tampa, San Francisco and Denver were producing segments on the originality of the idea and how NIL deals can work. Fox News picked it up as one of the “Wins of the Week” on a Friday afternoon program.
“It just exceeded our wildest dreams,” says Hall.
Bringing Home the Bacon
What started as a fun, unique way to bring attention to the pork industry in a challenging year not only had a positive ripple effect throughout Iowa, but nationwide, too.
It was a win for the student-athletes who were paid for their time and garnered worldwide recognition. It was a win for IPPA and ISU, which were experiencing positive effects from the NIL deal being such a success. And it positively impacted the football players’ hometowns.
IPPA worked with ISU’s We Will Collective, a nonprofit organization that helps student-athletes connect with other local nonprofits to help support and enhance the local community. Purchase, Moore, Hamann and Bacon got to select a food bank or food pantry of choice for IPPA to donate $1,000 worth of pork. They all chose an organization in their hometowns.
One of the core principles of IPPA is giving back, and not only did communities feel it, but Iowa pig farmers did, too.
“From a producer’s standpoint, it was a great promotion in a time that producers needed something positive more than ever,” says Matt Gent, a pig farmer from Wellman, who serves as IPPA’s president. “The economics of the pork industry had been rough over the last year or two, and the timing was perfect for this opportunity.”
Sowing More for The Future
There are plans and hopes to continue working with ISU to capitalize on the 2023 season. They held “tryouts” for players to show their respective chops about how they would be great additions to the “Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon” Campaign. It was an “American Idol” inspired tryout where the athletes got to have fun presenting how they’d fit into the promotion.
In the end, 19 ISU student-athletes have signed NIL deals with IPPA to continue the fun and find creative ways to connect pork to not only Iowa communities but communities throughout the country. With a mix of players from both the men’s football team and women’s basketball team, there are a variety of talented student-athletes who are committed to promoting Iowa pork.
That also means 19 different food banks and pantries are receiving donations. Along with donating $1,000 worth of pork to each participant’s food bank or food pantry of choice, IPPA is providing an additional $16,000 worth of pork to the Iowa Food Bank Association. That $35,000 worth of pork equals almost 50,000 servings to fight food insecurity in Iowa and eight other states.
In a state that prides itself on feeding the world, this NIL deal brings so much more to the table than fun. It brings a fresh perspective while connecting a new generation of people to Iowa’s vast agricultural industry that feeds our neighbors far and wide.
