UPS, a March Madness sponsor that integrated itself into the NCAA tournament by shipping the basketball courts and other equipment vital to the Final Four, has decided to exit its NCAA partnership after six years.
The global shipping powerhouse, with headquarters in Atlanta, confirmed that its current contract with the NCAA expires in August and will not be renewed. Turner Sports and CBS jointly manage and sell the NCAA’s marketing rights.
A company spokesman said UPS is going through a review of its sponsor relationships — a regular exercise — and that the NCAA deal didn’t fit with an upcoming shift in marketing and communications strategy. UPS originally signed its NCAA partnership in 2010 and renewed it two years ago. UPS exercised an option in the most recent contract to exit the deal.
NCAA partner deals like UPS’s often run in the mid-to-high seven figures for rights fees, with another $10 million or more in advertising. It remains to be seen whether UPS will continue with its heavy ad buy around March Madness on Turner and CBS in the future.
“We are hopeful that they will continue to advertise in the tournament,” said Mark Lewis, the NCAA’s executive vice president for championships and alliances. “We certainly are disappointed to have them leave. It is a great company, and they did a lot of very good activation with their sponsorship.”
The company also has a sponsorship with the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association, which grant the company rights to use coaches in its advertising. Those remain in effect for now, the company said.
UPS, a heavy investor in college sports over the past decade, used the NCAA tournament for years as a platform to highlight its logistics expertise. The NCAA deal was signed as UPS worked with creative agency Ogilvy to conceive the “We love logistics” campaign, and that message became central to the company’s March Madness advertising.
Coaches ranging from Connecticut’s Geno Auriemma to former Butler coach Brad Stevens were featured in the “We love logistics” spots. In 2012, UPS and Ogilvy developed an ad around the logistics of Christian Laettner’s memorable buzzer-beater to defeat Kentucky 20 years earlier.
Central to UPS’s activation plan was the delivery of the actual basketball court from Connor Sport Court to the Final Four site. UPS also coordinated with Populous, which plans and organizes the Final Four for the NCAA, and Colonnade Group, the agency that assembles the temporary seating in the Final Four stadium, to ship the equipment.
UPS, which teamed with Momentum Worldwide on NCAA activation and strategy, created a multicity tour where fans could see the court and a specially branded UPS freight truck as it traveled to the Final Four site.
With the loss of UPS, as well as Burger King last month, the NCAA’s corporate partner list stands at 16 companies.
