The colors black and green are at the center of a dispute between Monster Energy and 360Fly -- both sponsors of the Yamaha Factory Racing Supercross team -- that threatens to bring an early end to the latter’s sponsorship of the team. The conflict arose ahead of the Feb. 13 Supercross event in San Diego when 360Fly CEO Peter Adderton claimed the camera company received a letter from Yamaha requesting that the brand cease its activation in the team’s pit area at Supercross events due to an overlap between the colors of its brand identity and those of Monster. Monster and 360Fly each have separate sponsorship agreements with Yamaha, and both companies activate within the team’s 20-by-20-foot pit. 360Fly has informed Yamaha that it will seek the termination or amendment of their existing agreement if the bike brand insists on enforcing the color and activation restrictions, Adderton said. Discussions are currently ongoing. Monster VP/Sports Marketing Mitch Covington acknowledged that the energy drink maker asked Yamaha to have 360Fly change the colors of its marketing materials, including the outfits worn by female spokesmodels, due to reports of “brand confusion.” However, he denied that Monster expressed a desire to have 360Fly stop activating altogether. Covington: “We didn’t feel like we were asking Yamaha, which is who we’re contracted with, anything that we weren’t entitled to in the contract. We feel like (Adderton has) kind of overreacted and used this to vilify Monster as the big bully company.” Yamaha could not be reached for a comment.
FLEXING THEIR MUSCLE? Adderton, who first took to Instagram to express his frustration with Monster, said last week that 360Fly in its agreement with Yamaha was “very clear what our corporate colors were, and we were very clear on what we wanted to do was activate in the pit. We needed to have our girls in there who were trained to show people how to use the camera.” He suggested that Yamaha’s decision to enforce Monster’s request is the result of the brand’s standing as one of the largest spenders in the sport, as well as with Yamaha’s teams. “If you’re Yamaha, you look at, ‘Ok, do I hold the letter of the law with our contract partners in 360Fly, or do I look at the giant that sponsors pretty much every single team that they operate?’” Monster is also the title sponsor of the entire Supercross series. Meanwhile, Adderton expressed frustration that the brand has been unable to have rider Chad Reed wear its camera in competition due to the series' exclusive relationship with GoPro. He added that the brand going forward is likely to move away from team sponsorship agreements and toward more personal endorsement agreements with athletes.
