How CompressionZ Used Student-Athletes to Build a UGC Machine

The Challenge

CompressionZ plays in one of the most competitive spaces in e-commerce—athletic apparel. Competing with powerhouse brands with massive budgets in the leggings and compression gear industry, they needed a way to stand out.

While they primarily sell on Amazon, they knew that authentic user-generated content (UGC) would be a game-changer for their paid media strategy on Meta and TikTok. But they didn’t just want content—they needed credibility. Something real. Something raw. Something that would resonate.

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The Insight

If CompressionZ gear could keep up with the intense training schedules of student-athletes—people who practically live in performance apparel—it could work for anyone.

Enter: student-athletes.

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The MarketPryce Solution

CompressionZ partnered with MarketPryce to launch a full-funnel UGC strategy—one of our favorite playbooks for brands looking to scale with real, trustworthy content.

Here’s how it went down:

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1️⃣ Product Seeding for Feedback

First up: gear in hand, no strings attached.

CompressionZ sent product to student-athletes across the country. If they didn’t love it, no pressure—no forced content.

The goal? Keep it real. Gather authentic feedback.

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2️⃣ UGC Content Creation

When athletes did love the gear, CompressionZ offered a small upfront fee to create a high-quality video.

It was a win-win: the brand got content they could repurpose across paid media and organic channels. The athletes got to create, get paid, and build their portfolios.

Think of it like a "paid trial"—a low-risk way to test creative before scaling it.

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3️⃣ Doubling Down on Top Performers

Once top-performing athletes emerged, CompressionZ doubled down.

The brand built long-term relationships with standout creators—athletes who could consistently deliver monthly content and post across their own channels for added reach and engagement.

The Results

This strategy delivered. CompressionZ unlocked over 50+ pieces of UGC from athletes across 10+ sports—football, basketball, track & field, soccer, and more.

Take a look at a couple of the long-term brand ambassadors they're building around:

• CJ Fazio (Marshall Football): CJ took his content to another level—training in CompressionZ gear, pulling off backflips, and even going viral on TikTok in his CompressionZ leggings, racking up 2 million views. His content stood out so much that CompressionZ turned him into a long-term ambassador.

• Jacob Parent (Track & Field): Jacob brought versatility—balancing performance shots with lifestyle content that showed how the gear fits into everyday life. His consistency and creativity made him the go-to creator for new product launches, including CompressionZ's new Tech Elite Shorts.

Why This Funnel Works

At MarketPryce, we love this structured approach because it allows brands to:

✅ Cast a wide net and collect diverse, authentic content
✅ Ensure brand partners genuinely love the product before promoting it
✅ Identify standout ambassadors and invest in them long-term

For CompressionZ, this wasn’t just about gathering content—it was about building an ambassador program that fuels brand affinity, paid media success, and social reach.

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👉 Want to build a UGC machine for your brand? Schedule a call today.

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