'Purchase Moore Hamann Bacon': Viral NIL deal has wider community impact

Earlier this fall when the Iowa Pork Producers Association teamed up with some Iowa State football players for an nil deal. It took the nation by storm. And while many know of the campaign, what they may not know is how it’s also helping communities. It all began with a simple photo capturing Iowa State football players, Tommy Hammond and Caleb Bacon standing next to each other during a game. Earlier this season, it made the rounds on social media and got the attention of the Iowa Pork Producers Association. And as soon as I saw it, I messaged Joyce,

our promotions person and Monday morning, I was in her office and we just got the ball rolling with it and uh we looked through the roster, not only was there a Hammon and a bacon, but there was also a purchase and a more so purchase more ham and bacon could not be more perfect. A great way to promote the pork industry. They partnered with the players for a name image and likeness deal and the campaign went viral on social media. Honestly, I thought it had potential but I didn’t think it would go like the way

that. It did like honestly, it was crazy like a couple of million like interactions or whatever. So I definitely didn’t think it would get that big. But

a component of the deal that may be less known is the donation the Iowa Pork Producers Association made to food pantries of the players choice. Food insecurity is a big problem right now all over the the country. It’s happening here in Iowa too. So this is just a small way that I pork producers can give back to the community. And we did the donations in the players names Caleb

Bacon, who’s a Lake Mills native, chose to have his donation go to the Lake Mills Food Shelf. Well, I actually went back there uh on my bi week and talked to some of the people who run the food bank and was able to do kind of a little presentation of the f of like the food coupons and uh the money for them. So uh just seeing kind of the joy that that brought to my community and them was really cool. The D Mark food pantry in Des Moines was also a recipient of a donation chosen

by Des Moines native, Tyler Moore. Just last month, they served close to 24,000 people in the metro. This donation is coming at what could have been no better time for us knowing that these past few months have been incredibly busy for us and the more we can get for food donations and the more we can unite to meet the need, um those are gonna be huge um opportunities to help more folks. While nil is often associated with big figure deals and brands, there’s more to it than that. It also allows players to have some fun

and make a positive impact in their communities.