NFL corporate sponsors are completing plans for the league opener this week.
With the NFL putting considerable firepower behind a seasonlong celebration of the 50th Super Bowl in Santa Clara, Calif., kickoff festivities will be split. In Foxborough, Mass., the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots will host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday, while San Francisco will be host to a kickoff concert.
Bose and Microsoft will launch seasonlong mobile marketing tours in Foxborough, which will travel to games, especially the Super Bowl rematches on the regular-season schedule. USAA is joining the mobile NFL marketing parade, with a unit that will visit military bases. New auto sponsor Hyundai is presenting sponsor of the downtown San Francisco celebration and concert, which Train and Ellie Goulding will headline.
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Pepsi and Hyundai, which celebrated its NFL deal on its American headquarters (above), are among league sponsors launching marketing programs.
Photo by: GENSLER |
“There is no bigger brand in sports and no better way to reach the masses than the NFL,” said Trea Reedy, Hyundai’s senior group manager of experiential marketing. “[Elevated] opinion of our brand and purchase consideration among NFL fans are what we’re looking for.”
In San Francisco, a Hyundai Fieldhouse will showcase vehicles, including a gold-wrapped Tucson SUV, in observation of Super Bowl
50. A sweepstakes offers a Tucson as the top prize. The carmaker also will debut a football-themed TV spot in 13 markets. Player and team deals are to be determined, Reedy said.
To support the 50th, NFL sponsors will be leveraging the Super Bowl sooner than ever this season. “This is a year when Super Bowl activation starts with the season and builds,” said Tracie Rodburg,
NFL vice president of sponsorship.
For example, Mars brands Snickers and Skittles are teaming now for a “Make Super Bowl 50 Sweeter” promotion with heavy point-of-sale displays and a sweepstakes overlay. Campbell Soup is planning a “Golden Ticket” promotion for its Chunky Soup brand, as is Dannon for yogurt.
Bud Light is producing Super Bowl-themed cans in various local markets.
Based on a consumer insight that its millennial target tends toward extemporaneous social planning, Bud Light also will attempt to own the pregame coin toss by offering fans opportunities to “do whatever” from Thursday through Sunday of an NFL week based on the toss of a coin. The Bud Light Coin Toss thematic will be activated in ads, at retail and on site, as well as on game days with team-specific coin toss executions.
Team-specific “Up For Whatever” ads will continue, with one that was shot from last month’s Hall of Fame Game set to debut Thursday night; 28 are planned for the season.
Among the Pepsi marketing programs under an “All For Football” umbrella message: NFL official chip Tostitos’ “Party Like a Pro” platform, tied to a “Thursday Night Football” buy; Pepsi cans featuring players in 15 local markets and Super Bowl 50 commemorative cans; and a national “Unlock the League” promotion offering weekly NFL prizes by entering codes from packaging. Pepsi also will debut NFL creative during the opening game, said Justin Toman, Pepsi’s director of sports marketing.
