WHAT IF YOUR NEXT COLLEGE FOOTBALL STAR WAS 58?
Aspercreme was trying to change how the world saw people 55+, but a limited budget meant we couldn't simply buy our way into culture. Then we found Tom Cillo: a 58-year-old college freshman who joined his school's football team & lined up against players nearly 40 years younger. We didn't just sponsor his comeback. We made it our own. The result was the oldest NIL deal in history, $12M in earned media, 1.13B impressions & an 11.5% sales lift.

OBJECTIVE:
Aspercreme, a topical pain relief brand for arthritic 55+ year-olds, was the last brand you’d expect to jump headfirst into culture. But as the #7 brand in pain relief, competing for market share against brands with far greater fame & budgets like Tylenol, Icy Hot & Biofreeze, playing it safe wasn’t an option. Aspercreme faced the same perception problem as its audience: we were overlooked, but a lot more interesting than people gave us credit for. Most advertising portrayed 55+ consumers with gray hair, playing pickleball or settling into retirement. But the reality was far more dynamic. There was 55-year-old DJ Mad Marj spinning Cardi B. 54-year-old curler Rich Ruohonen becoming the oldest American to compete in the Winter Olympics. These weren't people acting their age.They were Acting Their Age.

That led to our foundational insight: AGE MAKES YOU INTERESTING. PAIN MAKES YOU DULL.

Our new platform, Act Your Age, positioned Aspercreme as the brand that helps people defy pain's power so they can defy aging's stereotypes. But with a limited budget, we couldn't simply buy our way into culture. We had to find the moments culture was already talking about & make them ours. So we went looking for older people doing interesting, inspiring & unexpected things. Pain be damned.

STRATEGY & EXECUTION:
Older adults are routinely sidelined in culture, particularly in sports. Nowhere was that more apparent than college football: a $14 billion industry built around some of the youngest athletes in the country. NIL had transformed college athletes into bona fide brand ambassadors, with companies competing to sponsor the next generation of sports stars. So we asked: What if the next NIL star wasn't 18?

Enter Tom Cillo. At 58 years old, Cillo had gone back to college as a freshman, joined the football team & suited up alongside players nearly four decades younger than him. & he didn't choose an easy position. He played defensive line. 58 YEARS. 0 QUIT.

Within five minutes of spotting the opportunity, we texted the client. A few days later, Aspercreme signed Tom to a historic NIL sponsorship deal, making him the oldest college athlete ever to receive an NIL deal. In our launch film, Tom delivered a defiant voiceover that immediately captured the spirit of the partnership: “You lose something when you age: the ability to give a damn what anyone else thinks.”

It was an unexpected voice from an unexpected athlete. But Tom wasn't just a great story. He was the embodiment of our strategy. He was putting his body through the physical demands of college football while refusing to let age dictate what he could do. So we gave the partnership a simple rallying cry: 58 YEARS. 0 QUIT.

But we didn't let Tom's story become a one-week stunt. We made him the face of Aspercreme for the entire football season, showing how the brand could help him through the physical demands of playing football while turning his journey into inspiration for anyone who had ever been told they were too old to try something new. We gave Tom the treatment you'd expect for any superstar athlete: Billboards. Full-page print. Custom product. Pregame fits. Social content. PR. & because we moved quickly enough to become part of Tom's story rather than simply advertise alongside it, Aspercreme became inseparable from his journey.

The story traveled from podcasts to national news to live tapings of Sunday morning television. What started as an unexpected NIL deal became a season-long cultural platform proving one thing: It's never too late to follow your dreams.

RESULTS:
Despite being underdogs in college football, Tom & Aspercreme ended the season on top. $12M estimated earned media value. More than Aspercreme's entire annual marketing budget. 1.13B earned impressions. 1,163% return on investment. +297% social conversation.

The campaign generated news coverage every month of football season, becoming the most talked-about endorsement deal of the season & outperforming sports heavyweights including Nike, Adidas, Gatorade & Bose. Critics took notice, too.

The Associated Press called Tom “a perfect brand ambassador,” while The New York Times named it “the most clever NIL deal of the season.” It was also the first time The New York Times had covered Aspercreme in more than 40 years. But the most meaningful reactions came from people who saw themselves in Tom:

“There’s hope even for old guys like me.”

“I’m 61, this cat is inspirational.”

“As a fellow 58-year-old, keep crushing it, bro 💪”

& the impact wasn't limited to conversation. Sales jumped 11.5% in the week following the partnership announcement. A 58-year-old freshman. A topical pain brand nobody expected to be in college football. One very simple message: 58 YEARS. 0 QUIT.

AWARDS:
Bronze Cannes Lion Winner, 5× Cannes Lion Shortlisted, Gold Clio, 2× Silver Clio, Bronze Pencil, 3× Shorty Awards, Big Agency of the Year, & a Merit