• by Sarah Mahoney , Staff Writer @mahoney_sarah, December 18, 2024

Tapping the passionate fan base of college sports has paid off in driving traffic to Great Clips’ 4,400 retail locations, so this year, the company is making its biggest bet yet. To solidify its position as the official hair salon of the college football playoff, the Minneapolis-based company has a new multiyear relationship with Disney Advertising, building deeper ties and greater continuity with national investments, as well as individual players, including Dillon Gabriel, quarterback at No. 1-ranked Oregon. Lisa Hake, vice president of marketing and communications, tells Retail Insider about the effort.

Interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Retail Insider:  You’ve kicked off the season with your first national promotion of the playoffs, including a spot called “We’re All In,” starring ESPN College Football Analyst Jesse Palmer and Natalie Rose, a fan and influencer.  You’ve also got NIL deals going with key players. What made you decide on this new approach to the playoffs?

Lisa Hake: Sports are already so important in how Great Clips connects to our Gen Z audience -- they love sports, especially college sports. And we tested that last year with our relationship with ESPN and the college playoffs.

With this new arrangement, we’ve got exclusive marketing rights surrounding the CFP, New Year's Six (NY6) and Championship Weekend, presenting sponsorship of the CFP Media Day, and enhanced brand exposure across CFP and ESPN promotional campaigns.

This is all also coming to life in many different ways in social media, collaborating with other personalities that make up the fabric of college football, like a podcast host, a dancer, an equipment manager and a drum major. They’ll share how they get ready with haircuts, rolling content out ahead of the biggest games.

Retail Insider: From a marketing standpoint, what does this deal get you?

Hake: We already do a lot in sports, including a partnership with the National Hockey League. And we were looking for more breadth, depth and continuity. Breadth is about geography, reaching more fans in the U.S. and Canada. When I say depth, we want greater engagement. And because this is a multiyear deal, we’re gaining continuity, looking at ways to grow our strength and presence in sports’ biggest moments. All that means getting more eyeballs on live TV and breaking through that way. And then, how can we balance that with the kind of bite-sized pieces consumers are looking for? We wanted to cover the entire marketing landscape and let people know we are all in on the college playoffs.

Retail Insider: How much of your media budget do you spend on sports marketing?

Hake: We have deals with more than 130 teams across the U.S. and Canada, so I estimate that about 60% of our working media is in sports.

Retail Insider: How significant an investment is this CFP arrangement? Even if you can’t say what the effort costs, is it a big deal?

Hake: Yes, it’s big. The partnership took a lot of education and convincing. In order to get this deal done, we had to allocate more money away from our local franchisees' budget, which they usually can spend in their own markets, and shift some of those dollars to our systemwide media portfolio. We were able to sell them on the idea that this powers the entire brand.

Retail Insider: What kind of results do you need to get to prove to franchisees that this was the right call?

Hake: We're focused on impressions and, depending on the channel, engagement. We’re doing pre- and post-studies with consumers to see if we’re breaking through. And ultimately, it’s about the ability to drive traffic to our salons. In the coming weeks, we'll be launching our first-ever national promotion. Usually, our promotions are at a market level.

Retail Insider: What was the timing like once the decision was made?

Hake: This was our first time working with Disney's creative team. And we wish we would have started the process months and months ago. But due to our internal decision-making process and getting the partnership figured out, we were a little late to the game regarding our campaign planning. Disney works so closely with ESPN, which streamlined the process for us.

Retail Insider: Do you think the new structure of the games has made the playoffs that much more important or appealing? Or does it come down to the reality that it’s practically the only mass media route to Gen Z customers?

Hake: It's a mix of both. Through this partnership, we have many opportunities and touchpoints to reach college football fans. It's not even just the TV and social media and earned media. It’s about having something topical -- something that everyone's talking about -- within our own channels. We're sponsoring Media Day, and we’ll have an activation at Fan Central, so we'll be able to interact with fans and actually do haircuts at the event itself.

It’s an especially important way to reach our young male audience.