AT A GLANCE
Great Clips signed college basketball stars Alex Karaban (UConn), Braden Smith (Purdue), and Gabriela Jaquez (UCLA) to NIL deals for the 2026 NCAA Tournament.
Tournament ads ran on CBS, TBS, TNT, TruTV, ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC—generating 715M+ earned media impressions in the campaign's first few days.
When trusted athletes tell millions of fans they go to Great Clips, every franchisee in every market feels it.
Full disclosure: I pick my NCAA College Basketball Tournament bracket based on mascots. A Bulldog versus a Bruin? I'm going Bulldog every time. I couldn't tell you a point spread if my life depended on it.
But when Great Clips launches a March Madness campaign? I pay very close attention. Not for the basketball necessarily but for what it means to the people who own Great Clips salons. And with the final game just behind us this week, it's a good moment to talk about what this one delivered.
What actually happened this March—off the court
This year, Great Clips partnered with three college basketball players on NIL deals timed to the NCAA Tournament: UConn's Alex Karaban, Purdue's Braden Smith, and UCLA's Gabriela Jaquez. All three appeared in TV commercials alongside CBS announcer Ian Eagle, and those spots ran during tournament games on CBS, TBS, TNT, TruTV, ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC—essentially the entire footprint of March Madness. Digital ads ran across Meta, Google, and a March Madness Live media package too.
Within days of launch, the campaign earned 94 media placements and reached more than 715 million people. Ian Eagle did a segment on The Rich Eisen Show. Karaban and Smith both talked about the partnership with national outlets. The brand was everywhere the tournament was.
Here's where it gets interesting for franchisees
People sometimes ask me whether a big national campaign actually moves the needle for an individual franchise owner. It's a fair question. There are 4,400+ Great Clips locations across North America—no campaign visits every salon.
But that's not really how brand awareness works. When Alex Karaban tells an interviewer that he grew up going to Great Clips—genuinely, not as a scripted line—millions of people hear a young man they admire say that Great Clips is just part of life. When Braden Smith, the Big Ten's all-time assists leader, talks about looking good to play good, and then connects that to Great Clips, his fans hear it. When Gabriela Jaquez posts about getting a haircut before tournament season, her followers notice.
None of that is happening inside one salon. It's happening everywhere, all at once. Every franchisee in every market gets the benefit of those moments, because the next time one of their customers drives past the salon, or searches for a walk-in haircut, Great Clips is already familiar, already trusted, already top of mind.
And that’s the real value of a campaign like this.
FAQ about the value of a national ad campaign to Great Clips salon owners
How does a national campaign like March Madness help individual Great Clips franchise owners? Brand awareness isn't location specific. When millions of people watch tournament games and see Great Clips ads or hear athletes they admire talk about the brand, that familiarity carries into every market, reaching all 4,400+ locations, not just the ones featured in any given campaign.
What makes NIL athlete partnerships valuable for a franchise brand? Athletes like Alex Karaban, Braden Smith, and Gabriela Jaquez have genuine followings—people who trust their opinions. When those athletes speak positively about Great Clips in interviews and on social media, it's not a traditional ad. It's a trusted recommendation at national scale, and that kind of credibility is real.
How is Great Clips' marketing support different from other salon franchise opportunities? Scale makes the difference. With 4,400+ locations, Great Clips can execute partnerships and media buys that smaller salon concepts simply can't match. That brand identity belongs to every franchisee, not just the corporate entity.
If any of this is resonating—whether you live and die by your bracket or just pick by mascot like I do—I'd love to have a real conversation about what owning a Great Clips franchise looks like in your market.
Reach out to our franchise development team: [email protected] | 800-947-1143
Beth Nilssen, Director of Franchise Development, Great Clips, Inc.
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