Hershey Foods has signed a marketing partnership with
the WNBA making the Hershey's brand an Official Sponsor of
the league and its 16 teams. Under the deal, Hershey's will
receive ads on the WNBA's three TV partners -- NBC, ESPN and
Lifetime -- as well as on-court signage and presence on
WNBA.com (WNBA). The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Andy Bernstein
reports that Hershey's "probably will stage account-specific
promotions in about a half-dozen" WNBA markets. But
"because the deal came together so late," the company will
"not run national promotions linked" to the league this
year. Bernstein adds that the WNBA "finally has added" Diet
Coke as a sponsor (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/12 issue).
SONY CHECKS OUT: BRANDWEEK'S Terry Lefton cites sources
as saying that Sony is "walking away from" its NBA
sponsorship after three years. The deal was "originally
seen as a way to marry" the company's "disparate
entertainment hardware and software units with sports, but
that never materialized." Sony dropped an NFL sponsorship
to sign with the NBA in '97 (BRANDWEEK, 6/12 issue).