Upcoming Bouts Generating Record Marketing Activity, Promotion

The March 13 Manny Pacquiao-Joshua Clottey and May 1 Floyd Mayweather Jr.-Shane Mosley fights are "generating record levels of marketing activity, including major sponsors and HBO's largest-ever promotion around a pay-per-view fight," according to Karl Greenberg of MARKETING DAILY. For the Mayweather-Mosley bout, Tecate is running a $3M campaign that "includes a $30 rebate for the PPV fight." Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer said that DeWalt Power Tools also is activating, "doing 450 events in over 2,000 Home Depot stores." Schaefer added that the effort includes a promotional offer for a "full $55 rebate for the PPV of the fight" with the purchase of a DeWalt power tool. AT&T also is "doing a commercial push that includes a new TV spot," and Schaefer said the company's efforts include "huge activations across multiple platforms." HBO is "doing its biggest campaign in HBO PPV history around the fight" under the tagline, "Who RU Picking?" The effort includes a "social media promotion where viewers vote online for either Mosley or Mayweather." Meanwhile, Greenberg reports that for the Pacquiao-Clottey bout, Tecate and Top Rank are "offering a $20 mail-in rebate coupon for the HBO PPV event with the purchase of a 12-pack or larger of Tecate or Tecate Light." Tecate Brand Dir Carlos Boughton said that efforts include "point-of-purchase material at 9,000 grocery and convenience stores with promotional materials featuring images of Pacquiao and Clottey, as well as fight details." Tecate also will "tailor its radio spots in the two weeks leading up to the event" (MARKETING DAILY, 3/3 issue).

DUELING PROMOTIONS: In Philadelphia, Bernard Fernandez writes as stand-alone events, Pacquiao-Clottey and Mayweather-Mosley are "attractive bouts that figure to be aesthetic and commercial successes." Promoters for both fights "can only speculate" whether the public "will choose to be resentful that an even more spectacular showdown [between Pacquiao and Mayweather] won't happen at least for a while, and maybe ever." But for now, officials for the two fights "have elected to portray their fight as the better option for fight fans' disposable income" (PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS, 3/3).