TurboTax Takes Innovative Step to Take Full Advantage of Changing NIL Landscape

TurboTax is capitalizing on the exposure of the NCAA college basketball tournaments to secure crucial NIL partnerships for their target audience.

Maddy Hudak | Apr 2, 2025

James Snook-Imagn Images

As the NCAA tournament progresses towards the Final Four round, all eyes are focused on the college basketball stars vying for the national championship.

It’s a perfect time for brands to partner with athletes on NIL partnerships, and Intuit TurboTax is one with a pointed strategy that capitalizes on the madness of the postseason.

In the name, image, and likeness game of college sports, getting the timing right with a player’s exposure is critical to these brand deals.

That now includes non-athletes like McNeese State Cowboys student manager Amir Khan.

After the fan favorite quickly went viral on the court, Khan was signed and filmed a collaboration with TurboTax by the next day following the team’s win on March 20.

Khan joined a star-studded roster of men’s and women’s college basketball players that are partnered with TurboTax, two of whom are still competing in each bracket: UCLA Bruins guard Kiki Rice and Auburn Tigers forward Johni Broome.

Gen Z & NIL Strategic Communications Lead at Intuit TurboTax, Caitlin Campbell, spoke with NIL Daily on SI for an exclusive on their company strategy to reach a new target audience with these athletes, how they capitalize on high-visibility moments, and educate student athletes with year-round support.

Campbell has been with TurboTax since 2021, and they identified a gap with the Gen Z audience around the same time NIL became legal for student athletes.

As a former influencer, Campbell saw an opportunity to partner with the most notable Gen Z representatives in the nation: star athletes.

Equally important to TurboTax’s strategy is the timing of the March Madness tournament. The high-profile postseason event transpires right before the tax filing deadline on April 15.

“We're unique because our business is four months long,” Campbell said. “That’s how long the product is alive. The timing is truly what drives this campaign.”

There’s so much coverage of the postseason tournament that while it offers high exposure, it also risks being lost in the content shuffle. Campbell’s background as an influencer has been critical to their athlete partnerships.

“There's a really unique distinction when you're working with college students, because they are students first,” Campbell said. “Our expectations for them are maybe a little bit different because they're not creators first. So having that lens is important.”

While Campbell guides the athletes on talking about brands in sponsored content and producing top-quality posts for the brand, they aren’t natural influencers, and their branding has leaned into the non-topical content.

The support for the players comes from wanting them to win on the court, and that doesn’t change with a less curated social media post. TurboTax’s recognition of that, with the guidance of Campbell, shows their understanding of their partners and target audience.

That understanding is reflected in the programs they have that support financial literacy education, and Campbell considers them foundational to their program. In addition to focusing on tax season, they support their partnered players with seminars and virtual sessions year-round.

TurboTax also recognizes the importance of timing when signing new players—and team managers—and was one of, if not the first, to implement a unique strategy of real-time NIL deals.

“Nobody was activating within hours of athletes stepping off the court, whereas we are sending them DMs or their agents sometimes before they’ve left the game,” Campbell said. “Consumers see that. They saw an athlete have a great three-point game last night, and now they’re talking about their three-point accuracy with TurboTax content the next day. That's what makes it unique and explains why it works so well."

The campaign’s development over three years has differentiated itself with real-time activation on a large scale. TurboTax signed more than 25 new partners in this year’s tournament.

“We’re proud of the speed and volume that we're able to crank out during the tournament and the quality content that makes sense for both of us. We truly think it’s changing the industry. We’re excited to see how other brands do that and see how it influences the rest of our programs."

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