Associated Banc-Corp yesterday launched a new ad campaign featuring Packers QB Aaron Rodgers promoting the Green Bay-based bank's products and services. The TV, radio and newspaper campaign will air in eight Wisconsin cities in September and October. The spots are expected to run on weekdays and during TV and radio broadcasts of Packers games. Print ads will appear in about 40 Wisconsin newspapers. Customers who open a Packers checking account will receive a package that includes a custom Rodgers bobblehead, poster, and checkbook cover with Rodgers' signature and the Packers logo, accompanied by a free first order of Packers checks. Customers using their Packers debit MasterCard between Sept. 6 and Dec. 31 will be automatically entered into the Ultimate Aaron Rodgers Experience for a chance to win tickets to all '12 Packers home games, an invitation to a meet and greet with Rodgers and a replica Super Bowl XLV ring paperweight (Associated Banc-Corp).
NEW SOLUTIONS: In N.Y., Stuart Elliott takes a look at advertisers' preparations for the NFL season amid uncertainty and reports FedEx will "introduce a campaign during the first game of the season" that will present a new theme, "Solutions that matter." FedEx Advertising & Marketing Communications Dir Steve Pacheco said his company was "sweating" the potential for a delay or disruption. Pacheco added, "We don't know yet" whether the company will return to the Super Bowl next year. Pacheco: "The decision will be made very soon." He continued, "I do believe there'll be other opportunities, maybe outside the Super Bowl, for big impact" (N.Y. TIMES, 9/8). Meanwhile, the WALL STREET JOURNAL's Nando Di Fino notes FX's "The League," a show about six friends in a fantasy football league, was "jeopardized" by the NFL lockout. Unsure "how a work stoppage would play out, 'The League' co-creators, Jeff Schaffer and Jackie Marcus Schaffer, wrote two separate storylines." The first "assumed the lockout would be settled and featured the usual mock drafts of NFL players and scoring based on their real-life performances." In the "other storyline, the comedy got a little darker." Characters "struggled to cope with the void, at one point pondering an improbable fantasy-curling league" (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/8).
PLANES AND AUTOMOBILES: Jet Air Group announced Tuesday that it has partnered with the Packers to offer flight services for Packers games (GREEN BAY PRESS-GAZETTE)....Kumho Tire USA has "increased its sports marketing lineup, inking a deal" with the NFL Jets for the '11-13 seasons. Kumho will be the official tire of the Jets and will have a pregame "fan zone at all 10 home games for this coming season." The Kumho Tire "big rig and Kumho girls will be present at each game for giveaways and other fan activities". Kumho will also "have in-stadium signage" at MetLife Stadium (TIREREVIEW.com, 9/7).
CLOTHING CONTROVERSY: In Pittsburgh, Brian Bowling reports the Steelers and the Allegheny Valley School Foundation have "sued Eugene Berry Enterprise LLC, saying the company infringed on the The Terrible Towel trademark by producing and selling its own version of "the Terrible T-shirt." U.S. District Court Judge Arthur Schwab yesterday "granted a preliminary injunction that makes sales of the T-shirt illegal until the lawsuit is included" (PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW, 9/8).
