CU is raking star players from the transfer portal and it started after Deion Sanders gave sons Shilo and Shedeur the responsibility to talk to transfer recruits. Following this Shilo posted a message on his IG story asking defensive and offensive recruits to contact him and Shedeur, respectively.
Although this move was criticized as many called it a casual style of recruitment, but it did produce the desired results in the end. Coach Prime certainly knows when to step out of the box.
In the current scenario, it is considered illegal for an NCAA player to contact other team coaches before transfer, so they instead reach out to players of the teams they are interested in.
Taking advantage of this fact, Shedeur and Shilo took matters into their own hands to ask recruits to contact them directly via IG DMs which proved to be a game changer.
Since texting on IG is much more convenient than sending emails, more players would feel free to reach out to the CU stars.
This out-of-the-box tactic proved to be extremely successful for Coach Prime’s program. The IG story was widely talked about on social media and was seen by more than 20 million fans online on X. This led to multiple players reaching out to the two CU players via IG.
When asked about the story posted by Shilo and the impact it caused on their recruiting process, Deion claimed that Shedeur had every wide receiver tight end, and offensive lineman in his DMs. This simply shows how being different gets eyeballs which can be taken advantage of, just as Nike did to market Air Jordans.
How Nike Broke the Rules To Make Air Jordans a Massive Success
It doesn’t need to be mentioned how popular Nike’s Air Jordans are. Although there is a GOATed legacy of an athlete behind it but Nike itself was simply a mastermind in getting eyes on the shoes when it was initially released in 1985, six years before MJ won his first championship.
Back in those days, the NBA had a rule in place that required players to wear shoes that needed to be 51 percent white and match their uniforms and other teammates’ shoes to maintain uniformity. Non-compliance with this rule could cost a player $5,000 fine per game.
So Nike asked MJ to wear the Air Jordans during games, breaking the uniformity rule, and then paid all the fines that were incurred on him.
This caused many analysts and commentators to criticize and talk about it. More cameras were panning on MJ’s shoes during games which led to the shoes catching more eyeballs.
This gamble paid off for Nike in the long run after MJ cemented his spot as the greatest of all time in the sport making his shoe line invincible.
Nike has since been raking millions in sales from the Jordans making it one of the most successful marketing stunts of all time.
This proves how going bold and outside the norm in a calculated manner could lead to tremendous success and Deion Sanders knows that well.
On a similar note, Deion’s iconic Nike Air DT has caught the attention of NFL fans as many pro athletes have been seen wearing his signature shoes during games.
But one particular moment made his shoes the center of attention. It was when the Ravens WR Isaiah Likely stepped on the line by a toe’s length while catching what could have been a game-winning touchdown. That catch though lost the Ravens the game but gave Deion’s shoes free marketing.