Nationwide, whose sponsorship with the NFL expires after the Super Bowl, renewed for another four years, with an even greater emphasis on its affiliation with the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.
 |
As presenting sponsor, Nationwide gets a seat on the committee selecting the Walter Payton Man of the Year finalists.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
|
The insurer will now also sponsor the NFL draft, allowing the company onstage during the first and third rounds to extol the virtue of the award, which Nationwide presents. And the insurer gets a seat on the award’s selection committee, which whittles the list of 32 — one player from each team — to the three finalists the league announced last week.
“Nationwide exists beyond just reasons of making money, beyond just a balance sheet or profitability,” said Terrance Williams, the insurer’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer. “We exist to ensure the betterment of the communities we live and work in.
“The WPMOY award really allows us to shine a spotlight on some of the heroic efforts of these young men … that is oftentimes overlooked. It really aligns with who we are as an organization and what is important to us as an organization, while still allowing us to strengthen our overall brand.”
Doing good has helped the brand. Nationwide-sponsored hashtags on Twitter with WPMOY contestants now register in the millions of uses, and the company routinely cross-promotes with its sponsorships in NASCAR and golf.
In May 2015, Nationwide brought 2014 WPMOY winner Thomas Davis to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a press event with Nationwide spokesman Dale Earnhardt Jr. And in June 2016, Nationwide brought 2015 winner Anquan Boldin to the PGA Tour’s Memorial Tournament, presented by Nationwide in Dublin, Ohio, to promote the insurer’s connection with the award and highlight Boldin’s work with the Anquan Boldin Foundation.
Since sponsoring the award three years ago, Nationwide has also donated $800,000 in total to individual athlete charities.
The winner of the award is announced Saturday during the NFL Honors show.
As part of the sponsor renewal, Nationwide retains rights to use league and team marks in advertising.
While unconnected contractually to the renewal, Peyton Manning’s endorsement of Nationwide will continue as well. There are no plans to add other football player endorsers, Williams said.
“The WPMOY piece we feel incredibly strong about,” he added, “and in my view, it is the linchpin of our sponsorship with the NFL.”
