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Sponsors ask for flexibility in deal structure

Greg Via likes the New England Patriots’ strategy, and he’s not talking about Bill Belichick tricking the Baltimore Ravens with an unorthodox formation in a playoff game in January. He’s certainly not talking about Deflategate.

Via, global director for sports marketing and entertainment at Gillette, points instead to a series of promotional shifts the razor company undertook in recent years at the suggestion of the Patriots.

Several years ago, the Patriots went to Gillette to gauge the company’s interest in going to an electronic backdrop for player and coach interviews, replacing the static commingling of team and Gillette logos with a changing series of messages tied to specific products and launches.

In similar fashion, Gillette embraced an idea proffered by the Pats to replace four static corporate logo signs above entry portals at the team’s home field, Gillette Stadium. And the razor company received and accepted the first shot to put its logo on Patriots practice jerseys.

“They look to help us change what we have,” Via said. “They’re really good about making sure we’re [aligned the

A simple change like switching to an electronic backdrop for Patriots news conferences gave Gillette the ability to change messages.
Photo by: Getty Images
best we can be] with their business.”

For years, if not decades, sponsors and properties have preached the gospel of proving a return on investment and measuring progress. More recently, spurred by social media and instant access to just about every source of analysis and information imaginable, sports sponsors have begun pushing for greater flexibility and the ability to change campaigns midstream.

As the evolution of the Gillette-Patriots relationship makes clear, companies want their sports business partners to understand their industries, their target customers and how those teams and leagues can help create unique tie-ins that take the alliance in new and captivating directions.

Discussions with executives on both sides — properties selling sponsorships and the companies buying those sponsorships as well as their agency consultants — find a lot of enthusiasm for the progress made to date. Leagues and teams have shifted from the traditional one-size-fits-all sales packages sold to companies with a steady combination of tickets, advertising and logo rights. Those features remain important, along with hospitality and special events, but such combinations are more of a starting point than a finished product.

“It used to be the sales team [would sign a sponsor] and then the service and sponsor management was an afterthought,” said Greg Busch, president of Bespoke Sports & Entertainment. “Now you have departments built around managing sponsors and understanding their businesses.”

Busch pointed to many teams and leagues hiring former brand marketers to help manage partner relationships as a sign of how much demand exists for such services.

Analysts and executives pointed to the rapidly shifting business environment as the primary reason that such expertise has become increasingly important for landing and keeping corporate backers. If a company agrees to a five-year sponsorship, or even three years, technology and other changes are all but certain to force tweaks in the brand’s deal.

Still bullish on fantasy?

The following are results of the Turnkey Sports Poll taken in October. The survey covered more than 2,000 senior-level sports industry executives spanning professional and college sports.

Which of the following sponsorship categories has the biggest revenue potential for sports properties over the next five years?

Daily fantasy games 33%
Personal electronics 22%
Health care services 18%
Telecommunications 12%
IT services 10%
Not sure / No response 5%

In three years the daily fantasy games sponsorship category will be …

Cooler than today 54%
As hot as today 29%
Hotter than today 13%
Not sure / No response 4%

Which of the following leagues will be the first to introduce jersey sponsorship?

NBA 66%
NHL 26%
NFL 1%
MLB 1%
None of them will ever do it 3%
Not sure / No response 3%

How concerned, if at all, should properties sponsored by Volkswagen be about their brands' image given Volkswagen's recent emissions violations?

Very concerned 21%
Somewhat concerned 43%
Not very concerned 31%
Not at all concerned 5%

Source: Turnkey Sports & Entertainment in conjunction with SportsBusiness Journal. Turnkey Intelligence specializes in research, measurement and lead generation for brands and properties. Visit www.turnkeyse.com.


In many instances, sponsors can bolster their sports alliances by adding social media collaborations or creating one-of-a-kind promotions and employee perks by using a team venue, players or coaches.

“You can’t be afraid [as a sponsor] to go back,” said Mike Sundet, senior vice president of sports and entertainment at Momentum, who previously worked in sponsorships and advertising at Anheuser-Busch InBev. “The worst that’s going to happen is the property is going to say no and you’re at status quo.”

At the NBA, Rachel Jacobson, the league’s senior vice president of business development, noted the growing need for market intelligence. To find leads and develop promotional tie-ins, she and others at NBA headquarters study global economic trends, considering everything from imminent public offerings to major industries likely to seek aggressive marketing campaigns.

A recent emphasis on health and wellness has tied in with several key partnerships. Among the latest: Under Armour, as part of an expanded agreement with the league that includes outfitting top prospects at the annual draft combine starting in 2018, will also launch a fitness app tied to NBA Fit, a national exercise campaign.

The league works with sponsors to make the links between brands and basketball resonate. In 2012, State Farm, a league partner, started a national campaign emphasizing the importance of assists, a staple of basketball, and comparing it to the reliable help in times of need that an insurance policy provides.

Much like a league or team or major event, daily fantasy company FanDuel has started to tout its influence with desirable and hard-to-reach men as a reason for other companies to make their brands and products part of FanDuel contests.

Michael Pine, general manager of integrated partnerships at FanDuel, said the company has 1.5 million regular users, with many of them skewing younger and just beginning to determine their brand and shopping loyalties. Pine said a major beer brand and a national restaurant chain will soon announce partnerships with the daily fantasy company.

“These CMOs want something new and unique,” he said, mentioning as examples the company’s recent Las Vegas contests with appearances by pro athletes, and GM-for-a-day promotions that have included lunch with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. “Each company is different and we’re able to customize.”

For that reason, he said FanDuel is now aggressively going after sponsors, promising unique alliances. Let’s just say he’s not alone in making that offer.

Erik Spanberg writes for the Charlotte Business Journal, an affiliated publication.

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