NFL Team Sponsors Activating Around Wild-Card Weekend

The Chiefs, making their first playoff appearance since '06, have used their turnaround from a combined 10 wins over the past three seasons to winning 10 games this season to snag an important new sponsor. Seeking awareness among its B-to-B target, Scout Investments is presenting sponsor of this Sunday's playoff opener against the Ravens. The K.C.-based institutional asset management firm also took a multiyear naming-rights deal to the Chiefs expanded club level. Team-controlled media and rights to use the facility for corporate events were also included, said team Exec VP & COO Mark Donovan. Grocery chain Hy-Vee is sponsoring a card stunt during the game's first quarter, in which fans in the lower level will attempt to fashion a design with arrowheads on each end of the stadium, Hy-Vee logos in the corners and a huge "Go Chiefs" sign. Miller, Sprint, and Coke are among the sponsors of a downtown pep rally Friday. Meanwhile, the Colts, hosting the Jets Saturday night in a rematch of last season's AFC Championship Game, are also doing a card stunt, sponsored by lead playoff patrons Sprint, Toyota, and Huntington Bank. The cards will combine to form the team's "All In" tagline. Colts Senior Director of Marketing Chuck O'Hara said that throughout this week, playoff posters have been distributed at various malls, along with ticket giveaways, and include appearances and autographs by Colts alumni and cheerleaders.

Eagles giving away rally towels before Sunday's game against the Packers

BROTHERLY LOVE: In Philadelphia, where the Packers are pitted against the NFC East Champion Eagles in their first home playoff game in four years, stadium entitlement holder Lincoln Financial has its brand name on 70,000 rally towels. Eagles Senior VP/Business Ari Roitman said Pepsi is in as presenting sponsor of the playoffs for the team, on behalf of its Pepsi Max low-calorie cola brand, and was presenting sponsor of a Center City pep rally on Thursday. On game day, there will be sampling of Pepsi Max around Lincoln Financial Field, along with some in-stadium marketing activity. Pepsi will also support at retail, and Eagles sponsors Budweiser and Miller are activating with some on-premise marketing. Eagles Senior VP & CMO Tim McDermott has fashioned a playoff campaign centered around a "Heart" thematic, which will be on the rally towel, leveraged across a variety of media and employed by some corporate sponsors, including ACME, which is selling Heart apparel through its supermarkets.

TURN IT UP TO 12: Aside from its inconsequential designation as the Official Decision Engine of the Seahawks, Microsoft's Bing search engine is the team's presenting sponsor for the playoffs and will have its brand on 50,000 12th man "We Are 12" rally towels that will be given to fans at Saturday's game against the Saints. Other Seahawks sponsor activation included cheerleader and player appearances over free coffee and doughnut holes at Top Pot Doughnuts and a Washington Lottery ticket giveaway at Qwest Field. A 12th man flag will fly from Seattle's Space Needle for what the team is celebrating as Blue Friday.