Personal care and grooming brands work with college athletes by sending products into their real daily routines (post-practice showers, gym bags, dorm sinks) and asking for short, honest videos about what they actually use. MarketPryce picks the athletes, ships the product, coaches the content and handles payouts, and the best videos usually earn their keep as paid ads. Proactiv ran this play with male athletes and saw 2.5x the return on ad spend of its other influencer content.
Last updated November 9, 2026
Because nobody uses more deodorant, body wash and face wash than someone who practices twice a day. Athletes don't have to pretend the product fits their life. It's already sitting in their locker.
That matters most when you're trying to reach young men. Guys don't usually talk about skincare or grooming on their own, and they scroll right past polished ads. A teammate showing his post-lift routine on his phone feels like a tip from a friend, not a commercial.
A few other reasons it works:
The full stories are worth a read: how Proactiv drove 2.5x ROAS with athlete UGC and how Dr. Squatch turned a game-winning catch into an NIL deal.
Start with the one product you most want people to try, not the whole line. The biggest variable in any seeding campaign is simple: does the athlete actually like it? If they do, the content is easy. If they don't, they opt out, and no brief can fix that.
Routine content wins. Roughly 7 of every 10 campaigns we run are lifestyle and day-in-the-life videos, and about 3 of 10 add a store visit for brands that need retail sales. For personal care, these angles show up again and again:
Give context, not a script. We share examples of what's worked and the two or three points your brand cares about, then let athletes say it their way. Over-scripted briefs are the fastest way to make athlete content look like every other ad.
Match the athlete to the customer you want next, not the one you already have. Our network is roughly 60% female, so women's brands have plenty to choose from. For men's grooming, or for a unisex brand that has mostly built content with women, male athletes are often the gap. That's the play Proactiv ran: a skincare brand whose ads weren't landing with young men, fixed with male athletes filming their own routines.
For unisex products, run both and let the results decide where the next round goes.
Keep athletes on personal experience and your approved claims. "My skin feels less oily after practice" is fine. "This cures acne" or any medical promise is not, especially for products like acne treatments that carry regulated claims.
Two simple guardrails cover most of it:
If your team wants to sign off on videos before they post, a content approval step can be included. Our supplement brand playbook walks through claims guardrails in more detail.
Start with at least 30 athletes, and about 100 if you want a clear read. Typically 70 to 80% of athletes who receive product end up posting, so 100 athletes gives you around 70 to 80 videos to learn from. Opt-ins take about 5 days, and content goes live over the next 2 to 3 weeks.
Here's how we think about the numbers in more detail: how many college athletes you need for a test.
This is usually where personal care brands see the clearest return. Run the videos as partnership ads or whitelisted ads on Meta and TikTok, test dozens of them, and put more spend behind the winners.
One thing Proactiv learned: some videos that did only okay organically turned out to be the best performers as ads. So judge the content in paid tests, not just by likes. Our usual terms give you about a year of organic usage and 90 days of paid usage, and you can extend with a second deal with the same athlete. More on setup in our guide to Meta partnership ads with athlete content.
After the first month, keep your top performers. Out of 100 athletes, about 30 usually stand out, and they become your always-on team for launches and refreshes. Proactiv did exactly that: one athlete's simple iPhone video became a top ad, and he now makes content for them every month.
We run the whole campaign so your team doesn't have to recruit or manage athletes one by one:
We've done this across 50,000+ NIL deals with 350+ brands, including Proactiv, Dr. Squatch and Revlon.
Yes. Under NCAA rules athletes can earn from NIL deals, and personal care is one of the easiest categories because the products are part of their daily routine. Some schools and states have their own rules, so check any category limits.
Products athletes use every day after practice: deodorant, body wash, face wash, skincare and shave products. Start with your hero product and add more once you know who your best creators are.
Yes. Free product counts as a material connection, so every post needs a clear disclosure like #ad or the platform's paid partnership label.
Match the athlete to the customer you want to reach. Male athletes are great for men's grooming and for reaching young men, and unisex brands often test both.
Yes. Athlete videos can run as partnership or whitelisted ads on Meta and TikTok. Proactiv's athlete content drove 2.5x the ROAS of its other influencer content.
Tell us your hero product and the customer you want to reach, and we'll put together a test with athletes who'll actually use it. Start your campaign with MarketPryce.
