CLIVE, IOWA (December 20, 2023) — The Iowa Pork Producers Association’s viral “Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon” marketing initiative with Iowa State football players was named the Best NIL Deal of 2023 by Street and Smith’s Sports Business Journal (SBJ), a prominent and widely-respected national weekly trade magazine.
Iowa Pork partnered with Iowa State Cyclones Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann, and Caleb Bacon to create the “Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon” promotion. The not-so-subtle message was to encourage people to purchase more pork products, specifically, ham and bacon.
Teammates Alec Cook and Zach Lovett were later added into the NIL (name, image, likeness) campaign.
The Iowa Pork Producers Association has donated a total of $10,000 worth of pork to food pantries selected by the six players. That equals more than 13,300 servings of pork to help fight food insecurity.
"SBJ considered numerous NIL deals throughout our internal voting process. In the end, the IPPA's work with the Iowa State football players combined fun, philanthropy and creativity in capitalizing on a viral moment. We felt the combination of these traits made this particular partnership more than deserving of Best NIL Deal of 2023,” said Ted Keith, assistant managing editor for the Sports Business Journal.
The initiative launched on Monday, September 25 and quickly went viral. Within three hours on X (formerly Twitter), IPPA’s post was viewed more than one million times and reached more than two million views in twelve hours. Iowa TV stations broadcast the picture and talked about the initiative on the evening news. By the next day, it was hitting television and radio stations all over the country, including WGN-TV in Chicago, WPIX-TV in San Francisco, and KUSA-TV in Denver.
When ESPN’s Sportscenter account posted the “Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon” picture on X, the viral nature of the campaign grew even more, with that post surpassing 3.4 million views. Altogether, the promotion has reached more than twenty million people just on social media.
The marketing initiative was also hailed on national cable news programs and by the announcers during Iowa State's game vs Oklahoma on Fox Sports 1 and the Cyclones game against Brigham Young on ESPN.
“We are so fortunate at Iowa Pork to have great staff who envisioned this creative and positive campaign for pork,” said Trish Cook, president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association and a pig farmer from Winthrop. “When we saw the outpouring of support from media and social platforms, we knew we had a hit! We had dreamed that "Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon" would go viral, and it did — even bigger than we had hoped for. It was a great campaign for the players, their local food pantries, Iowa State University and pig farmers!”
The Iowa Pork Producers Association worked closely with We Will, the NIL collective of Iowa State University on this initiative.
“This partnership is a testament to the positive impact NIL can have on not only the student athletes, but also on causes in our area, like food insecurity,” said Brent Blum, executive director of the We Will Collective. “It has been a blast letting the nation know about Iowa Pork and Iowa State football and all the good that come to our state as a result!”
About the Iowa Pork Producers Association
The mission of the Iowa Pork Producers Association is promoting, educating, and providing a leading voice for a sustainable, socially responsible, and globally competitive pork industry.
About SBJ
Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal is a national weekly trade magazine, and the flagship publication for the Street & Smith’s Sports Group. Since its launch in 1998, it has become the undisputed authority on the business of sports and a must-read for top executives in every segment of sports business — properties, sponsors, media, facilities, finance, and professional services.
