Marketing to College Students that Creates Raving Fans: Barebells Case Study

College students are one of the most valuable demographics a consumer brand can reach. They're also one of the hardest to impress.

They've grown up with advertising.
They spot inauthenticity immediately
They have zero obligation to care about your brand.

Sofia (name changed for privacy), a Marketing Lead at Barebells USA, knew exactly what she needed for the Barebells' Sports Club Tour: a giveaway students would actually remember, laces that coordinated seamlessly with the full branded kit (sweatshirt, shirt, hat) and colors that matched each school's identity precisely, delivered on time to every stop.

"We need something memorable that ties the whole look together… and it has to be perfect for each school we're visiting." [paraphrase] — Sofia, Marketing Lead, Barebells USA

Our Project's TL;DR: How Barebells' Marketing Genius Struck Gold With This Gift

Barebells' Sports Club Tour hit nine college campuses in a single fall season. Every stop had a tight event window, a distinct school identity to honor, and thousands of students who had seen every promotional giveaway in the book. Here's a snapshot of how the project came together… and why it worked.

Industry:	Athleisure / High-Protein Consumer Packaged Retail Goods
Problem:	Needed high-impact, unforgettable, on-brand merch for a multi-stop college campus tour	❌
Product Used:	10mm Flat Polyester Branded Shoelaces, Custom Retail Paperboard Boxes
Order Volume/Scope:	5,500 Custom Pairs Across 9 University Colorways — Nationwide Experiential Tour	✅
The Big Win:	On-time delivery to all nine events; student attendees considered the laces a "big hit"

Barebells' Background: Why 1 Brand Rose to Protein Bar Stardom

Barebells launched in 2016 with a single, defiant premise: protein products that actually taste great. No compromises on flavor, no chalky aftertaste, no apologies for being indulgent.

Their lineup spans original protein bars, soft bars, vegan bars, protein sodas, and milk drinks… all built around the same philosophy:

High protein
Zero added sugar
Flavor first

That positioning resonates hard with college students. The demographic wants food that fits a fitness-oriented lifestyle without sacrificing the experience of eating something genuinely good. Barebells understood that, and built a sampling strategy around putting product directly into the hands of the people most likely to become lifelong customers.

Barebells' Key Problem: How to Make a Splash with Students

A college football sampling tour spanning nine universities across the fall season is a serious logistical operation. Barebells had the product, the brand, and the campus access. The missing piece was merch worthy of the campaign.

The challenge wasn't just finding a vendor. (Anyone can slap a logo on a cheap piece of promotional product.) The real challenge was threefold:

The merch needed to feel premium enough to compete with the stadium atmosphere around it.
It needed to represent nine distinct universities with institutional accuracy. The wrong color on an Ole Miss or Ohio State product would be immediately noticed by students.
The entire 5,500-unit production run had to be manufactured, packaged, and delivered on a rolling schedule that matched the tour's calendar, with zero margin for error at the early stops.

Barebells came to Laced Up looking for a partner who could handle all three.

What We Did: 1000s of Students + IG-Worthy Merch

Barebells needed three things to pull this campaign off:

Institutional accuracy across nine university colorways
Packaging that made the product feel premium
A fulfillment plan built around their tour calendar rather than a standard bulk window.

A missed event date doesn't just delay a giveaway; it kills the activation entirely.

The design called for a repeating Barebells wordmark flanked by dual accent stripes running the full length of each lace. That layout creates a compression risk on a standard lace width. Laced Up caught it during proofing and upgraded the canvas at no additional cost to Barebells. Every colorway shipped with a clean, distortion-free print.

The packaging matched the ambition of the campaign. Custom sliding tray rigid boxes featured the Barebells "Sports Club" mark, school-matched color stripes, and the slogan "game day essentials" in a collegiate varsity font. Students weren't handed a promotional item. They were handed something that looked like it belonged in a campus retail store.

The fulfillment strategy was built around the tour's calendar from day one. Early event stops were prioritized and shipped ahead of the main run, guaranteeing on-site arrival before the first activation.

Every stop was covered. Every deadline was met.

The Aftermath: What Barebells Said About Our Solution

After the University of Tennessee kickoff on September 13, Sofia came back with exactly one message:

"The laces were a big hit in Tennessee!! Thanks so much for your support with the shoelaces, we really appreciate it!" — Sofia, Barebells USA

That reaction confirmed what the product design was built to produce. Students at a college football sampling event, surrounded by brand activations competing for attention, chose to put on the laces.

Through their foresight and creativity, Barebells' campaign surpassed just a successful giveaway and transformed into a brand impression that walks out of the stadium, shows up at class on Monday, and gets photographed.

Marketing to college students with promotional products works when the product earns its place in their hands. The Barebells campaign worked because nothing about it felt like afterthought merch.

Related Case Studies: 2 Schools That Wanted Better Strategies for Engaging Students

Student engagement campaigns that go beyond the branded koozie. These two programs show what happens when schools invest in merchandise that students actually want to wear:

University of Dayton
A University of Dayton entrepreneurship student was tasked with pitching and launching a real product. Cheaper vendors quoted him lower prices and stopped there. Laced Up brought consultative design support and professional product photography to the table alongside the product itself. He left the project with a retail-ready brand he could actually sell.

Read the full case study here.
Schools of the Sacred Heart, San Francisco
An athletic program leader needed a game day giveaway for Sacred Heart's high school sports programs that students would actually want to keep. The school had a strong brand identity and high standards for how it was represented. Laced Up translated that identity into two distinct designs honoring both athletic divisions, paired with custom bags that made the full package feel like a gift rather than a handout.

Read the full case study here.

Level Up Your Marketing to College Students with Gifts They Won't Forget

The brands that win on college campuses aren't always the ones with the biggest budgets. They're the ones that show up with something students actually want: merchandise that looks premium, feels intentional, and represents the school they bleed for on game day.

Laced Up builds custom branded shoelaces, hoodie strings, and accessories for experiential campaigns, collegiate activations, and corporate events nationwide. If you're planning a campus tour, a sampling program, or a student-facing brand activation, contact us today and let's talk about what we can build for you.