Purchase Moore Hamman and Bacon T-shirts available through new NIL deal

The perfect NIL does exist. And it’s leading to another opportunity for four Iowa State football players.

The Iowa Pork Producers Association and Cyclones players Myles Purchase, Tyler Moore, Tommy Hamann and Caleb Bacon grabbed national headlines for their viral NIL deal facilitated by the We Will Collective on Monday.

In a post on X, the players posed in a picture with their backs to the camera. The photo resulted in the most appropriate NIL image maybe ever with the players’ names promoting followers to: Purchase Moore Hamman and Bacon.

The photo was everywhere and the post from Iowa Pork generated more than 2.5 million views, more than 10,000 engagements and headlines all over the sports world.

The creative moment also generated another NIL opportunity for the Iowa State players. This time the NIL partnership is with RAYGUN – the T-shirt company known for its creative collection of pithy and fun sayings.

The shirt plays off the same phrasing Iowa Pork used and is in Cyclone cardinal and gold.

“The shirt has arrived,” RAYGUN wrote in a post. “Credit goes to @IowaPork and @WeWillCollective for the idea and implementation. We just provided the keyboard, screen press, stores and good attitude.”

Bacon immediately encouraged his followers to purchase the shirt.

“Go get one,” he posted.

In conjunction with the original NIL partnership, the Iowa Pork Producers Association will donate $1,000 of pork to each player’s food pantry of choice.

Iowa State players’ deal is ‘brilliant’

Michael Ehrlich, who previously worked as the head of athlete engagement for MarketPryce and now operates Playbook Marketing, called the NIL deal with Iowa Pork “amazing” and one of the best he’s “ever seen.”

Christopher Aumueller of FanWord – the athlete storytelling and branding company – agrees. He loves how it’s spawned not just one, but multiple opportunities for the players.

“If you can communicate a call-to-action without a traditional call-to-action, that’s brilliant marketing,” Aumueller told On3. “We’ve seen a lot of NIL activations using an athlete’s name, and this is another amazing example. Simple and authentic with a high ‘share’ potential — and the numbers are already showing that.”

Iowa State fans have been clamoring for a NIL deal for the four players after a photo of Hamann and Bacon on the sidelines of a game went viral earlier this season.

“After the ‘Hamann Bacon’ photo went viral on social media following the Cyclones’ season opener, we knew we had to jump on this opportunity,” Trish Cook, president of the Iowa Pork Producers Association, said earlier this week. “These four young men are not only great football players, they also have strong academic records and great last names! We couldn’t be more excited to work with them in this fun initiative to publicize Iowa pork.”

Through four games, Purchase, a cornerback, is second on the team in tackles with 20. He also has three tackles for a loss, two pass deflections and one sack. Bacon, a linebacker, is fifth on the team with 17 tackles, but he leads the Cyclones with 4.5 tackles for loss and two sacks. Moore has two receptions for 19 yards and a touchdown from his tight end spot. And Hamann, a defensive lineman, has played in one game this season for Iowa State.