MLB Marketing: Yankees Agree To Multi-Year Deal With PepsiCo

Yankees Ink Multi-Year Sponsorship With PepsiCo

TIP OF THE CAP: White Sox VP/Communications Scott Reifert said that sales of White Sox caps are "up 25% this year," and that the surge is attributed to consumers identifying the team with President Barack Obama, who is a fan of the franchise. USA TODAY's Bob Nightengale noted the White Sox, "capitalizing on their worldwide allegiance, are shipping caps to foreign leaders, just in case they want to make Obama comfortable on his visits." Dodgers Special Assistant to the GM Toney Howell, who "grew up in Chicago a White Sox fan," said, "I went to Europe during the winter and saw White Sox caps everywhere. The funny thing is, when I'd see someone wearing that cap, I'd yell out, 'White Sox!,' and pump my fist. They would yell back, 'No! Obama!'" (USA TODAY, 4/6).

NEW RIDE: In N.Y., Maury Brown noted Audi's three-year deal making it the official luxury car of the Yankees will provide the automaker with "unusual opportunities to get its brand before millions of baseball fans." As part of the deal, Audi will be given a members-only Audi Yankees Club at Yankee Stadium, and Audi of America CMO Scott Keogh said, "We can do a lot of hospitality for high-end clients, and dealers can do a lot of relationship marketing with existing customers. Plus, the people who are in the lounge who are unaffiliated with Audi will be exposed to the branding" (N.Y. POST, 4/5). Meanwhile, text answer service kgb is "sponsoring team trivia question segments during the broadcasts of all Yankees and Mets games this season" on WCBS-AM and WFAN-AM, respectively (N.Y. POST, 4/5).

WHAT'S IN STORE: Majestic has opened its first retail location at 17 Yawkey Way across from Fenway Park in Boston. The Majestic Clubhouse Store, which was designed to replicate a big league clubhouse, marks Majestic's first venture into retail and is a partnership between Majestic and Twins Enterprises (Majestic).

AROUND THE HORN: In St. Petersburg, Marc Topkin reports “coming soon” are T-shirts with this year’s Rays slogan, ’09 > ’08. The “greater than” sign will have the team’s sunburst logo over it (ST. PETERSBURG TIMES, 4/7)....The SPORTING BLOG's Rich Lopez reported Jordan Brand is "set to introduce the Jordan Jeter Captain," Yankees SS Derek Jeter's eighth signature sneaker with Jordan Brand, for the start of the season. The shoe "features pinstripes and authentic baseball stitching" and retails for $110 (SPORTINGNEWS.com, 4/6)....The Minnesota State Lottery (MSL) has launched a new Minnesota Twins Scratch Game, which offers a $100,000 top prize and second-chance prizes such as tickets to regular-season home games at Target Field in the '10 season (MSL).

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