Lowe’s exits deal wth IMG College; two renew theirs

Lowe’s has opted out of its massive national buy with IMG College, industry sources say, bringing an end to one of the first major national sponsorship deals that aggregated so many schools in the college space.

While Lowe’s decided to exit its agreement, two other companies with national buys, Hyundai and Allstate, have renewed their deals with IMG College.

UPS was the first company to sign a sponsorship agreement with IMG College’s national sales group, but Lowe’s came in shortly after in August 2012. The original contract was supposed to go four years, but sources say Lowe’s exercised an escape clause to exit the deal sooner. No reasons were given for the exit.

Like UPS and Hershey, Lowe’s has a deep presence in college sports, largely due to its corporate partnership with the NCAA before signing the IMG College deal.

While the NCAA sponsorships help those companies attain a significant position with March Madness, the IMG College national buy is intended to provide brands a deeper presence with IMG College’s 80 schools. In fact, IMG College cleared the home improvement category across all of its schools so that Lowe’s could be the official home improvement store for those 80 colleges.

The deal also made Lowe’s the official presenting sponsor of each school’s mobile app, marking the first time a sponsor had secured such a designation. At the time, IMG College touted the deal as unprecedented, saying it would help Lowe’s reach fans through social media channels. Lowe’s also had hoped to leverage its position to become presenting sponsor of homecoming on close to 40 campuses.

The national buy came with radio advertising and in-venue signage.