LG has extended its NCAA corporate partnership for three more years in the home entertainment, appliance and mobile phone categories. The deal was brokered by Turner Sports and CBS, which jointly manage and sell the NCAA’s marketing rights. That means LG will be an NCAA partner through the '15 NCAA men's basketball tournament. “This will provide LG with a longer runway to plan and activate,” said Turner Senior VP/NCAA Partnerships & Branded Programming Will Funk. Funk announced the extension today, along with CBS Sports Senior VP/Sales & Marketing Chris Simko. LG has provided some of the most entertaining activation the last two years at Bracket Town, the NCAA’s primary sponsor activation Fanfest at the Final Four. With its appliances and a fully furnished kitchen serving as the backdrop, LG’s Fanfest area has featured celebrity chefs and a coaches’ cook-off as a way to lure fans. The company also is expected to ramp up its efforts at retail with promotions to drive traffic into its partner stores. Funk and Simko said it also is likely that LG will play some kind of role in March Madness on Demand during the NCAA tournament, but those details have not been finalized yet. AT&T, Capital One and Coca-Cola are the NCAA’s corporate champions, the highest level of sponsorship, while LG is a corporate partner along with Buick, Enterprise, Hershey, Infiniti, Kraft, Lowe’s, Unilever, UPS and the recently signed Northwestern Mutual.
