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Chevron nears agency choice; will it shed ‘old-school’ approach?

The first major sports agency review of 2017 is in its bell lap, with around a half-dozen sports shops delivering presentations beginning last week to Chevron marketing and procurement officials. Industry sources said the review began with a “Request for Information” sent out last October to 30-plus shops, which eventually was whittled down to 10 and then six for the latest, and presumably final, round.

According to industry sources, the agencies participating in the beauty contest finals included Phoenix-based AdSport, which has worked with San Ramon, Calif.-based Chevron for more than a decade; WME-IMG, which also has done prior sponsorship work for Chevron; along with a handful of the country’s leading sports marketing shops: LeadDog Marketing/Chime, Momentum and Octagon.

Chevron counts the San Francisco Giants among its partners.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
Aside from its own trademark, Chevron also owns the Texaco, 76 and Unocal brands, which total more than 8,000 retail locations. As you might expect from as staid a category as retail gasoline and convenience stores, Chevron’s sports marketing has been fairly old-line to date, centering on team sponsorship inventory, like tickets and venue signage along with club-controlled media and business-to-business hospitality.

“It’s been relatively old-school sports marketing, so the question is how many new things they are interested in,” said a senior industry source with knowledge about the review. Another involved source said Chevron was looking for new and original ideas on “portfolio optimization,” along with enhanced measurement capabilities and associated sponsorship analytics.

A decision on the review is expected by the end of January.

Whichever agency triumphs would be entrusted with a portfolio that includes many teams proximate to Chevron’s Northern California headquarters and its production facilities in Texas, including the Pac-12 Conference, San Francisco 49ers Foundation, Oakland A’s and San Francisco Giants. Other big-name sponsorships for Chevron include the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dallas Cowboys, Southern Cal and the Super Bowl LI Host Committee. Chevron also has title-sponsored the Houston Marathon since 2006.

> FITTING THE BILL: WME-IMG has signed on to represent CrossFit, which bills itself as the world’s largest gym organization, for overall marketing, including licensing, sponsorship, content extensions and live events. It’s the first outside marketing agency used by the workout regimen/property, which was founded in 2000.

WME-IMG now reps CrossFit.
Photo by: WME-IMG
The high-intensity workout program, licensed to certified instructors at more than 6,500 gyms nationwide, and about the same number outside the U.S., combines weightlifting, calisthenics and gymnastics. WME-IMG’s Gaby Morgerman, a CrossFit acolyte after five years of participating in the training routine, described the potential as limitless, since CrossFit has done precious little marketing brand extensions. Reebok has been CrossFit’s biggest sponsor since 2011; the rest of its sponsor base is a collection of endemic training products­­­­­.

“Its growth has largely been by all word of mouth,” Morgerman said. “It’s a huge digital community already, but we see more digital and traditional media extensions. The whole thing is just untapped, so our plan is to open up this opportunity.”

Sponsorships will be tied to assets at the regional events that feed into the annual CrossFit Games, broadcast on various ESPN outlets.

> MILLION-DOLLAR SEQUEL: J.B. Bernstein, the sports agent whose misadventures importing cricket players from India to play baseball in America was the inspiration for Disney’s “Million Dollar Arm” movie, is back at it.

His Access Group is over in India now with more than 20 grassroots competition stops in an attempt to find a placekicker talented enough to play in the NFL. The finals will be in March for a cash prize of two lakh — or about $3,000 — and a trip to the U.S. for training and a tryout in front of NFL team scouts. So far, no one has picked up the movie option.

In this case “the thought is that million(s) will come when they sign with an NFL club and we can create a Yao Ming-type sponsorship frenzy for worldwide brands looking to get into India,” Bernstein said.

ARBOGAST
> COMINGS & GOINGS: Dan Jones has joined WME-IMG’s Chicago office as senior vice president, global partnerships. Jones was at Intersport, Chicago, for 16 years, most recently as senior vice president, sponsorship and event marketing. … After 20-plus years with sports organizations including the Philadelphia Eagles, Learfield Sports and IMG, Molly Mullady Arbogast has put out her own shingle in Wayne, Pa., as POV Sports Marketing. Agency capabilities include sponsorship consulting, negotiation and activation, but not third-party sales representation. Without identifying them, Arbogast says she already has two brand clients and one property client. … After four years at the NFL league offices in New York, Max Paulsen has joined Van Wagner Sports & Entertainment as director, media and properties. Paulsen also has worked at the NBA and Velocity Sports Entertainment. His departure from the NFL to Van Wagner follows Doug Smoyer’s, who left the NFL in September to join the agency as chief sales officer. … Premier Partnerships, Santa Monica, Calif., has promoted former Miami Dolphins marketer Jason Miller to executive vice president. Miller has signed a long-term agreement with the agency.

Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.

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