Three of college basketball's biggest stars, USC's JuJu Watkins, Oregon’s Jackson Shelstad, and Arizona's Caleb Love, have teamed up to headline an NIL March Madness promotion.
The three players are part of the many that are now enjoying the name, image and likeness (NIL) deals, and players' latest deal is for Mondelēz, the parent company behind brands such as Ritz, Chips Ahoy! and Oreos. The company launched its March Madness NIL campaign a few days before Selection Sunday.
Shelstad and Watkins appeared in a TV commercial promoting the three products. While Love will promote the Ritz brand on social media. The three hoopers are not the only stars promoting products for the Mondelēz brand. LSU’s Flau’jae Johnson, Miami’s Jalil Bethea, Florida Gulf Coast’s Brandon Dwyer, South Carolina’s Chloe Kitts and North Carolina’s RJ Davis are also joining them.
WNBA star Breanna Stewart also has a deal with the brand. Mondelēz announced that they will be present at both the men’s and the women’s Final Four tournaments this year, marking an expansion in their portfolio.
For men’s basketball, Selection Sunday is on March 16, before the action starts on March 18 and runs till April 7, the day of the national championship game. The women's bracket will also be revealed on March 16, before the tournament starts on March 19 and ends with the championship game on April 6.
Caleb Love reflects on Ritz social media deal

The Arizona star is signed to the RITZ brand from Mondelēz, and he has been tasked with promoting the products to his over 400,000 social media followers. He spoke about how he needs to keep playing at his current level for such deals to keep coming his way.
“It’s a blessing because you not only built up a following, but your play, as well, is backing that up,” Love said while speaking to On3. “When you have a following like that, you build an audience. You’ve got kids looking up to you, you’re a big influence on others and you’ve got to take pride in that.
Speaking about how he was able to secure the social media deal, he said:
“I think that I’ve had so much time to build my so-called resume on social media. So I think I’ve done a great job up to this point."
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