Neonic Pickleball is dedicated to providing high-quality pickleball gear for players of all levels, including paddles, apparel, backpacks, and other accessories.
What sets them apart is their focus on premium materials paired with accessible pricing. Their paddles, such as the best-selling Flare Prime X, offer top-tier performance at nearly half the price of comparable high-end models. The brand also offers free worldwide shipping, a 6-month warranty, and a 30-day return policy to ensure a seamless customer experience.
With backgrounds in e-commerce selling home decor during the pandemic, Vinh Nguyen and Brandon Jarrold leveraged their expertise to enter the fast-growing pickleball market in the United States.
The challenge of a young brand in the market
Despite having great products and competitive prices, being a young brand in a crowded market wasn’t easy. Larger, more established companies dominated the space, and getting players to notice Neonic’s paddles was a real challenge.
But a turning point came when their very first paddle launch caught the attention of a YouTuber. That review gave Neonic Pickleball the credibility they needed to get noticed. As Brandon Jarrold, the co-founder explained, “Luckily, our first launch got picked up by a YouTuber, which made our name a little more credible.“
This experience led Neonic Pickleball to embrace affiliate marketing as a core strategy. They worked with influencers and content creators but didn’t pay upfront. The brand partnered with them through a performance-based model – these partners would earn commissions for every sale they generated.
From then on, it’s been about sending paddles to leaders in the community, getting their stamp of approval, and letting them attach their name to it with a 10% commission to promote it.
Brandon shared
That way, partners are motivated to promote the brand, while Neonic Pickleball ensures every dollar spent on marketing directly contributes to their growth.
To manage their affiliate program efficiently, Neonic Pickleball turned to UpPromote, the top trusted Shopify app for affiliate marketing. The platform’s robust features, user-friendly interface, and exceptional customer support made it the perfect affiliate solution.
Turning influencers into advocates through hands-on experience
Neonic Pickleball takes a thoughtful approach when it comes to building partnerships with their affiliates. Instead of handing out free gear to anyone who signs up, they wanted their partners to invest in the brand first.
As the co-founder Brandon Jarrold put it, “What we’ve done recently is make the program so that when they sign up, they have to buy a package, and that includes two paddles, a backpack, shirts, and hats.”
This package isn’t just about providing affiliates with tools to promote the brand—it’s a way to filter out those who might only be looking for free products. Influencers or content creators are required to purchase the package upfront, but once they sell three paddles using their unique code, Neonic refunds the cost of the package in full.
If they actually sell stuff, then they’ve referred three people to our brand… We can say, great, you’ve given three people access to our brand, so now we’re going to refund you the package, and you got this stuff for free.
Brandon explains.
This strategy ensures that their affiliates are motivated and genuinely interested in the brand, rather than just signing up for the free gear. At the same time, it encourages them to actively promote Neonic Pickleball’s products, knowing that they’ll earn back their money for pickleball packages.
With UpPromote, brands can seamlessly send gifts to affiliates within the app. Merchants have the flexibility to offer free products or discounts on specific items and can track gift claims through brief reports.
Connect with the right voices to promote products
While professional players may seem like the obvious choice for promoting paddles, Neonic Pickleball has taken a different route – one that focuses on authenticity and education.
Instead of chasing endorsements from top-tier athletes, Neonic partners with YouTubers, engineers, and influencers who dive deep into the technology of paddles and provide honest, detailed reviews.
As co-founder Brandon Jarrold points out, “It’s not really the professional players pushing the paddles, unless you’re talking about the top three in the world. It doesn’t have the same weight as someone who’s an intermediate player but really smart with the technology.” Players want more than just a famous face – they want to know what’s inside the paddle, how it performs, and why it’s worth their time.
Platforms like YouTube and forums such as Read.AI are becoming hubs for paddle reviews. Influencers and engineers on these platforms go beyond surface-level promotion – they take paddles apart, analyze the materials, and explain how they perform. Their unbiased reviews resonate deeply with players who want to make informed decisions about their gear.
This is Johnkew Pickleball, a popular YouTuber with 20.7K subscribers, known for his detailed reviews of pickleball gear. In one of his videos, he compared the Neonic Flare paddle to another top contender on the market, providing an in-depth analysis of their performance and value.
Of course, quality is still the foundation of everything Neonic does. Every paddle undergoes rigorous testing by the USAPA (USA Pickleball Association) to ensure it meets tournament standards.
These engineering tests verify fairness and performance, ensuring the paddle is neither too powerful nor has a trampoline effect. When approved, the paddle earns a stamp of approval, which not only builds credibility with tournament players but also gives influencers confidence in the product they’re recommending.
Moreover, Neonic makes it easy for their partners to share the brand. With the help of UpPromote, every affiliate automatically receives a unique coupon code when they join the program.
This eliminates the need for manual setup, allowing affiliates to start promoting immediately. The UpPromote system will track any sales generated through these coupon codes.
Learn more about partners through a detailed registration form
Neonic Pickleball takes a deliberate approach to building its affiliate network, ensuring that every partner aligns with the brand’s values and goals.
The brand has designed a sleek and detailed registration page using UpPromote’s Comfort template. This page does much more than collect basic information; it acts as a gateway to building a team of truly committed ambassadors.
The registration page features branded visuals that reflect Neonic’s identity. Importantly, the brand dives deeper than the typical “name and email” approach, asking questions like: “What courts do you frequently play at?” and “How will you promote Neonic Pickleball?” These questions allow applicants to showcase their connection to the sport and their plan to promote the brand.
By asking applicants to list their social accounts, disclose if they’re ambassadors for other brands, and share their Discord username, the form paints a clear picture of their digital presence and ability to engage with their audience.
Additionally, open-ended questions like “How do you plan to be active as an ambassador?” will help Neonic Pickleball understand how partners add value to the brand.
Results
Affiliate marketing has become the driving force behind Neonic Pickleball’s success, contributing an impressive 70% of the company’s total revenue.
A key part of this success has been their use of UpPromote, which has helped them create and manage a highly effective affiliate program. As co-founder Brandon explains, “Without UpPromote, we wouldn’t be halfway of where we are right now.”
While the app’s design and functionality have been crucial, Brandon emphasizes that the standout factor is the exceptional customer support. “It’s less than 24 hours in which questions get answered—not just answered, but answered really well,” he says. This level of support has built trust and made UpPromote an essential part of Neonic’s operations.
Ellie Tran, a seasoned SEO content writer with three years of experience in the eCommerce world. Being a part of the UpPromote team, Ellie wants to assist Shopify merchants in achieving success through useful content & actionable insights. Ellie's commitment to learning never stops; she's always eager to gain more knowledge about SEO and content marketing to create valuable content for users. When she's not working on content, Ellie enjoys baking and exploring new places.
