Publicis and Travis Kelce team up to launch NIL agency for college athletes

Publicis Groupe announced a partnership with Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce to form Tekta, an agency focused on facilitating name, image and likeness agreements between advertisers and college athletes. The venture leverages Publicis Sports' existing brand connections, Kelce's insider perspective, and the athlete-college links held by 3 Arts Sports, a unit of Lionsgate’s 3 Arts Entertainment. Tekta will initially grant a limited set of Publicis Sports clients entry to an NIL network that includes roughly 45,000 Division 1 athletes and 68 universities.

By handling compliance with school, state and conference rules, the firm hopes to accelerate deal making and improve measurement of campaign impact. Suzy Deering, CEO of Publicis Sports, highlighted the difficulty brands face in reaching local markets at scale, while Kelce emphasized his role in bridging gaps for both sponsors and athletes. The initiative reflects the growing $4.5 billion NIL market and the higher engagement rates college athletes enjoy compared with traditional influencers.