California-based food company Yoatz will have the presenting sponsorship of Warriors training camp and will have brand positioning on the team's practice jerseys for the entirety of the upcoming season. The Warriors will debut the new-look practice jerseys on the first day of practice Sept. 29. The Yoatz partnership is part of the Warriors' larger Gold Alliance partnership with Ignite Farm (Warriors).
LACES OUT: In Baltimore, Lorraine Mirabella notes Under Armour's first global soccer marketing campaign, "Slay Your Next Giant," is designed "to elevate Under Armour's presence in soccer and also represents the future of the brand's marketing for the sport." The campaign, produced by Droga5, N.Y., features EPL club Manchester United F Memphis Depay and Tottenham Hotspur D Cameron Carter-Vickers. Revolution MF Jermaine Jones will be featured in "addtional storylines." The players' laces "play a role of their own." UA said that it has "outfitted its soccer athlete endorsers with laces engraved with a personal goal, 'each pair representing a new giant to slay.'" As players reach each milestone, they will "remove laces and replace them with a new pair, while documenting it all on social media" (Baltimore SUN, 9/23).
DOUBLE DRIBBLE: In Chicago, Robert Channick reports Dominick's supermarket and its parent company, Safeway, yesterday filed a motion to "dramatically reduce" the $8.9M awarded to Michael Jordan by a federal jury last month "for using his likeness without permission" in an '09 ad. They want the judgment for damages awarded to Jordan "reduced to no more than $250,000 or a new trial granted." At the very least, the defendants "want the award capped" at $2.5M. They said that Jordan "'deliberately' misled the court and Dominick's about the damages he would seek from the jury at the end of the trial" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 9/23).
