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Big Dicee Converts College Scout Character Into Brand Deal

Micro creator leverages 16k Instagram followers into recurring brand partnership

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Big Dicee with N3on
Big Dicee with N3on

Big Dicee didnโ€™t land his first meaningful brand deal by acting like a spokesperson.

He landed it by acting like himselfโ€”specifically, one of the characters he already plays: a college basketball scout.

That detail matters, because itโ€™s the entire reason this partnership works. Athlete Narrative, an AI-powered recruiting app, reached out to Dicee directly via Instagram DM when he had around 16,000 followers, after noticing strong engagement from young basketball playersโ€”the exact demographic the product is built for (high school athletes trying to get recruited). The deliverable is simple: a minimum of one video per month, integrated natively into Diceeโ€™s existing content style.

Big Dicee’s Video That Led To Athlete Narrative’s Inquiry

What Athlete Narrative is (in plain English)

Athlete Narrative positions itself as a recruiting tool that helps student athletes build a profile and contact coaches faster.

On its site, the company describes a flow that looks like this: athletes create a โ€œRadar Pageโ€ profile with highlights, stats, grades, measurables, then use a tool it calls โ€œThe Recruiterโ€ to select divisions and schools and send messages to coaches. Athlete Narrative also says an AI assistant (โ€œHOPEโ€) can help write the email.

That aligns with Diceeโ€™s description: input your info and footage, generate an email template, and send coach outreach with a few taps.

Why Athlete Narrative chose Big Dicee

Dicee says the company selected him for one reason: his engagement with young hoopers.

Thatโ€™s the part most people miss when they talk about โ€œinfluencer marketing.โ€ Follower count is only the top of the funnel. What brands actually pay for is trust inside a specific audience.

Athlete Narrative isnโ€™t trying to reach โ€œeveryone who likes basketball.โ€ Theyโ€™re trying to reach:

  • athletes who genuinely want recruitment opportunities
  • parents who want a clean system
  • players who are already thinking about film, stats, grades, and outreach

Diceeโ€™s content sits right in the middle of that realityโ€”especially because he already runs a scout persona that speaks the same language as recruiting culture.

The integration that makes this deal work

The easiest way to kill a creator partnership is to force a creator into a script that doesnโ€™t match their voice.

Diceeโ€™s advantage is he doesnโ€™t have to pretend. The product fits his character.

He can incorporate Athlete Narrative into his existing basketball videos as:

  • the โ€œscoutโ€ asking for a playerโ€™s Radar Page
  • the โ€œscoutโ€ reacting to a playerโ€™s measurables/grades/film
  • a comedic bit where the โ€œscoutโ€ shows how athletes should reach out properly
  • a punchline about โ€œsend it to coaches in one tapโ€

Thatโ€™s not just entertainingโ€”itโ€™s functional education wrapped in comedy, aimed at exactly the people who would use a recruiting tool.

Meanwhile, Athlete Narrativeโ€™s site leans heavily into โ€œeasy-to-build profileโ€ and โ€œemail coaches quicklyโ€ messaging, which makes the integration clean and believable.

What the deliverables are

Dicee says the partnership fulfillment is:

  • minimum 1 video per month

Thatโ€™s it. No messy 10-post bundle. No โ€œspam your Story 8 times.โ€ This is a straightforward monthly integration.

Big Dice x Athlete Narrative Partner Content

Why this deal is a case study for the โ€œCreator Mainstreamโ€

This partnership signals a shift thatโ€™s happening across the creator world:

Micro creators with the right audience can outperform big creators with general reach.

Because for a company like Athlete Narrative, the ideal customer isnโ€™t โ€œa sports fan.โ€ Itโ€™s a high school athlete actively trying to get recruited (plus parents). Thatโ€™s not a mass-market audience. Itโ€™s high-intent.

This is the same pattern you see in the most effective creator marketing:

  • niche creator
  • niche audience
  • product that solves a real problem
  • integration that doesnโ€™t break the creatorโ€™s content

Thatโ€™s how a 16K creator becomes more valuable than a 500K creator who reaches the wrong people.

The bigger takeaway for creators trying to land deals

Diceeโ€™s deal blueprint is repeatable:

  1. Build a character or content lane that attracts a specific community
  2. Drive engagement with that exact community (not random virality)
  3. Make your content naturally compatible with a product category
  4. When brands reach out, keep deliverables simple and sustainable
  5. Make integrations native, not scripted

This is how creator marketing becomes โ€œmainstreamโ€: not through celebrity endorsements, but through creators who feel like part of the audience theyโ€™re speaking to.

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Paul Frazier
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Starbucks Teams With MrBeast for Beast Games Season 2

Starbucks x MrBeast is official: the coffee giant is โ€œpoweringโ€ Beast Games Season 2

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Mr Beast on pile of cash for Beast Games.
Courtesy @MrBeast Instagram.

Starbucks just locked in one of the cleanest โ€œcreator mainstreamโ€ brand plays weโ€™ve seen this year: a multi-surface partnership with MrBeast tied to Season 2 of Beast Games: Strong vs. Smart, premiering on Prime Video on Jan. 7, 2026.

Financial terms werenโ€™t disclosed, but the structure is clear: on-screen integration + in-store activation + creator-channel amplificationโ€”the full flywheel.


What the Starbucks x MrBeast deal includes

1) Starbucks inside โ€œBeast Cityโ€ โ€” 24/7

Starbucks will have a physical presence inside Beast City, the contestantsโ€™ living quarters, where competitors get complimentary 24/7 access to Starbucks drinks and food.

2) Surprise prizes during the competition

Starbucks is also baking rewards into the show itself with surprise prizes for contestants throughout the season.

3) A limited-time โ€œCannon Ballโ€ drink in U.S. stores

Starbucks is launching a new Starbucks Refreshers drink called the Cannon Ball, described as a lemonade-based mix of Strawberry Aรงaรญ + Mango Dragonfruit Refreshers, topped with fruit inclusions. It hits Starbucks stores in the U.S. for a limited time starting Jan. 14, 2026.

4) The drink is tied to an on-screen challenge

The Cannon Ball drink is not just โ€œinspired byโ€ the showโ€”itโ€™s connected to a specific on-screen moment: itโ€™s featured in the โ€œCannon Ball Challengeโ€ in Episode 204, debuting Jan. 14 (same day the drink launches).

5) A MrBeast YouTube integration

Starbucks also appears outside the show via MrBeastโ€™s YouTube, including a Starbucks moment in his โ€œ30 Days in the Skyโ€ challenge video (released Dec. 20).

Mr Beast on the set of Beast Games.
Via MrBeast instagram

Why this deal matters

This isnโ€™t a typical influencer post or limited collab cup. Itโ€™s Starbucks treating MrBeast like prime-time entertainment, because thatโ€™s what he is now.

Marketing Dive framed the strategy as Starbucks tapping MrBeastโ€™s younger fanbase through season-long show presence + a limited-edition menu itemโ€”the kind of integrated play that turns a partnership into a cultural moment instead of a one-day ad.

And Starbucks is positioning it exactly that way. Starbucksโ€™ global chief brand officer Tressie Lieberman said the goal was to make Starbucks feel like โ€œhomeโ€ on set and bring fans into the experience via the Cannon Ball drink. On the Beast Industries side, SVP Beau Avril described Starbucks as โ€œpowering the competitionโ€ and helping contestants recharge.


Quick Beast Games Season 2 context

  • Series: Beast Games: Strong vs. Smart
  • Premiere: Jan. 7, 2026 on Prime Video (3 episodes at launch)
  • Finale: Feb. 25, 2026
  • Prize (per Starbucks release): $5,000,000
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Paul Frazier
Contributor. Thinking through my fingers.
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