USC leverages upcoming NIL potential with new in-house production studio
Before long, college athletes will finally be able to cash in on their Name, Image and Likeness. Details and parameters are still being worked out, but it's coming and it will change the landscape of college sports in a major way.
Some prospects may start considering what schools and programs can best develop their brand to maximize personal NIL revenue.
It will become a major part of recruiting battles -- in fact that's already starting.
And so USC made a very savvy and proactive move in announcing Thursday that it has formed an "alliance" with J1S -- which bills itself as a full-service creative agency -- to launch BLVD Studios, which according to the news release is "an innovative in-house creative lab [that] will provide resources, education, and strategy to help student-athletes build, promote, and leverage their brands and maximize their market value."
The announcement, following a well-coordinated promotional build-up on social media from head coach Clay Helton, quarterback Kedon Slovis, Trojans legend Matt Leinart and more on Wednesday night, came with a video release Thursday morning showing what BLVD Studios will be doing moving forward.
UPDATE (Friday): USC later took down the video a day later, which showed players and coaches at a mock Hollywood premiere and having fun at a pool party. Athletic director Mike Bohn released the following statement:
"Yesterday morning we announced a unique new partnership in anticipation of an exciting future for college athletics. As part of the launch of this partnership, a video – produced with appropriate safety precautions – was created to celebrate this innovative initiative and USC’s commitment to our student-athletes. It was meant to be light-hearted in an otherwise tough year and we encouraged our athletes to participate. In retrospect, the themes and timing of the video were out of step, especially given the challenges everyone is facing today. I apologize to the USC community for this lapse in judgment. We know we can do better next time."
But the big-picture significance of the venture remains.
Because there is a significant recruiting hook to this, USC also tailored its message to key prospects, as shared by 2021 QB commit Miller Moss. (Click on tweet to show full message).
"Sitting in the media capital of college football, the formation of BLVD Studios ensures that USC football players will have the resources to capitalize on Name, Image, Likeness opportunities," the message to recruits reads. "BLVD Studios represents an in-house creative lab to help educate and develop YOUR brand unlike anywhere else in the country. BLVD embodies the heart of LA ... where you can become a star ..."
“Being able to bring in J1S and BLVD Studios to focus on the student-athlete and their brand marketing is huge for us. This is a new landscape in college football and to be successful you have to be proactive,” Helton said in a statement.
According to the news release, J1S has previously partnered with Georgia Tech and Oklahoma football, as well as several professional athletes and Fortune 500 companies, but "USC will be their only client west of Texas, and one of just five J1S partners in college football."
USC outlined the ways in which BLVD Studios will serve student-athletes.
From the news release:
o Education: Annual curriculum focused on individual brand growth, social media strategy, market opportunities, and financial literacy
o Data and Reporting: Full-service platform to track content performance, understand key metrics and social media analytics such as engagement rates and audience demographics, and cutting-edge media valuation technology to assess the value of social media posts
o Brand Management: Ideation, production, and distribution of content creation for social channels, day-to-day operational needs, and personalized marketing strategies for current athletes and coaches
o Brand Narrative: Capture branding trends and concepts throughout Los Angeles and college football and take a big picture approach to enhance the storytelling of USC Football athletes
BLVD Studios will direct and produce athlete-driven content elements such as custom graphics and logos, photography, videos, podcasts, and more.
“The alliance with USC Football sets a new standard by placing one of the most iconic programs at the forefront of innovation, all while sitting in college football’s media capital. The potential is limitless,” J1S founder and CEO Michael Calvin Jones said in a statement.
Per the release, Santino Stancato, Head of Creative/Brand Strategy at J1S, "who rose to fame as the first Football Brand Manager in the Power Five at Georgia Tech", will be the project lead.
Andrew Stewart, the Head of Digital Production for J1S, formerly a Senior Producer for the University of South Carolina, and Logan Hawk, a creative strategy lead with experience at Texas A&M and most recently Texas Tech, will also play critical roles in the development of BLVD Studios. Jones, Stancato, Stewart, Hawk and the rest of J1S’s team will join forces with USC Football’s existing creative team, which features video producer Will Stout (hired away from LSU in the spring) and graphic designer Alex Verdugo.
USC claims that an audit conducted by INFLCR found that the social media accounts of USC football players on the 2019 roster "held an audience valued at more than $680,000 annually on social-media platforms such as Instagram and Twitter," while noting that 20% of scholarship athletes on the 2019 team “had an audience on social media large enough to be valued at more than $10,000 annually.”
As for the name, USC says that BLVD Studios "is a nod to the pageantry and symbolism of the famous boulevards that define Los Angeles as the epicenter of opportunity and entertainment, possibility and imagination. A city built on stars, BLVD Studios encapsulates the unmatched combination of USC’s academic and athletic tradition with Los Angeles’ business and media opportunities, giving athletes the biggest and best stage to build their brands."
"J1S and the creation of BLVD Studios is a differentiator for USC Football," Trojans director of player personnel Spencer Harris said in a statement posted on Twitter. "We are always looking for unique and creative ways to challenge the norm. How can we separate ourselves in recruiting and support our student-athletes better than anyone else? How can we be the best? That's the standard at USC. That's what we've done here."
Trojans past, present and future shared their thoughts on social meeting. See it all on our Trojan Talk message board, along with some of the other key posts from USC below.