Dive Brief:
- Publics Groupe’s sports marketing division has partnered with NFL star Travis Kelce to launch Tekta, a new consulting arm focused on Name, Image and Likeness deals and marketing activation, according to a press release.
- The joint venture weds Publicis Sports’ client network and capabilities around data and measurement with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end’s athlete expertise. In addition, Tekta will work with Lionsgate-owned 3 Arts Sports, which specializes in talent representation and brand strategy.
- Tekta’s goal is to offer advertisers interested in the multibillion dollar NIL market an end-to-end marketing solution and measurement framework. A select group of Publicis Sports clients will have early access to Tekta and help shape its development.
Dive Insight:
Publicis, Kelce and 3 Arts Sports are tackling NIL fragmentation with a new consulting shop that aims to make student-athlete activations more intuitive and measurable for brands.
The NIL market is currently valued at $4.5 billion, per estimates from NIL tech platform Opendorse cited in the announcement. But NIL is saddled with legal and economic complexities that aren’t as prevalent for more established professional sports counterparts. The NIL floodgates only started opening five years ago following a Supreme Court ruling against the NCAA around player compensation.
“Many of our clients are looking for ways to connect with customers at a local level, while also delivering scale and laddering up to a regional or national program. This has been challenging — if not impossible — to do from a brand standpoint, given all the pain points,” Publicis Sports CEO Suzy Deering said in a press statement.
Despite NIL’s growing pains, the appeal of the tactic is clear. Student-athlete brand partners deliver an average engagement rate of 5.7%, nearly four percentage points higher than traditional influencers, Opendorse found. Live sports is experiencing a banner year on the marketing front as well thanks to cyclical events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cup. The format is seen as one of the few remaining bits of unifying monoculture as consumer interests otherwise splinter.
Tekta provides advertisers with a network for reaching tens of thousands of Division I athletes and 68 Power Four universities. Activations will be done in compliance with conference and state-level requirements, the release said.
Publicis clients that tap into Tekta’s capabilities will receive guidance on the right investment opportunities and partnerships, as well as consultations on how to deploy talent in ways that will drive the most impact. Publicis’ data-driven marketing solutions, including those around fan intelligence, will inform these efforts.
Tekta is promising 50% to 70% faster speed to market for NIL marketing compared to current offerings, along with a unified measurement framework for advertisers. It also plans to support athletes with more transparent deal terms, financial literacy training and career development opportunities.
The news follows Publicis launching Influential Sports in February, which combines the ad-holding group’s sports marketing services with the Influential creator marketing platform it acquired in 2024. Publicis grew net revenue 4.8%, to roughly $4.3 billion, in Q2. It has consistently led the pack on performance for large ad-holding groups, in part due to its sophistication in data-driven marketing.
