Kwik Trip is partnering with its first college student under the new NIL endorsement deals made legal by the Supreme Court in 2021. The student, Will Hazeltine, attends the University of Wisconsin-Madison—and plays the mellophone with the marching band.

"It’s really exciting for Will be part of this first partnership," said Kwik Trip social media coordinator Hayden Knoll. "He’s passionate about Kwik Trip, and has a unique story and background. He will have all the creative freedom he wants, and we are excited to see what he does with it," according to Fox6 news.

While NIL deals typically allow student-athletes to be compensated for collaboration with brands or when their name, image or likeness is used, technically any student is eligible to sign a deal.

Brian Mason, director of NIL strategy with Wisconsin Athletics, said “How a member of the marching band approaches things might be a little different than a student athlete. … At the end of the day, their objective is the same. That's to utilize name, image, and likeness to help advance a brand's goals and earn compensation for that," as reported on local news site channel3000.com.

Hazeltine reached out to Kwik Trip to inquire about a potential deal since he is a huge Kwik Trip fan.

“To me, Kwik Trip is as much Wisconsin as the Green Bay Packers are, UW-Madison is, cheese and milk. You think of Wisconsin, as someone from Wisconsin, I think of Kwik Trip. It’s pretty awesome to be a part of that now.”

Kwik Trip has a form for interested students to submit online to be considered for the partnership.

Look for more about NIL in our October issue of NACS Magazine, which explores in detail how convenience retailers are building an NIL playbook.