Clay Bollinger is a college athletics creative strategist with more than a decade of experience building brands, leading teams, and modernizing how programs compete for attention, recruits, and revenue.
Currently serving as the University of Cincinnati’s Director of Content Strategy, Bollinger leads football creative strategy with a focus on elite recruiting, brand growth, and scalable content systems — working cross-functionally across athletics, NIL, communications, and sponsorship.
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SOCIAL MEDIA FOLLOWING: 14,400+
HELPING COLLEGE ATHLETICS PROGRAMS COMPETE WHERE ATTENTION IS WON.
The New Operating System for College Athletics I’ve been spending a lot of time examining the landscape around our departments and others. It’s clear that we are moving toward a future where athletic departments thrive as high-performance media and marketing platforms. By aligning our goals, we can create a sustainable…
College football brands aren’t built only on wins, tradition, or facilities. They’re built on understanding. Understanding who a program is, what it’s becoming, and why the work happening today matters. In an era where most fans encounter a program through a single post in their feed, social content isn’t just…
In college football, the most important work often happens long before the first snap of the season. While fans naturally focus on kickoff weekends and conference matchups, the foundation for those moments is built months earlier. Winter, in particular, plays a critical role in shaping how a program is perceived,…
In the world of college athletics content, most teams focus on the day-to-day — reacting to the next game, announcement, or viral moment. But what if you approached content like a football program? Just like football has offense, defense, and special teams, your creative strategy should include real-time content, evergreen…
In college athletics, content has the power to do more than fill timelines — it can define a brand. The most effective creative departments today aren’t just “making things.” They’re aligning with athletic directors, coaches, and collectives to move the needle in recruiting, NIL, sponsorship, fundraising, and fan engagement. In…
For years, college sports content revolved around team brands—highlights, press conferences, and behind-the-scenes clips curated by institutions. But the game has changed. Today, fans want unfiltered access to the athletes themselves. Authenticity, relatability, and personal connection are driving engagement in ways that traditional team accounts simply cannot replicate. The numbers…
Clay Bollinger 