Kraft's Jell-O and Chobani Greek yogurt have signed "separate multiyear sponsorship deals across nearly 20 colleges each through an agreement with rights holder IMG College," according to Michael Smith of SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL. The Jell-O deal is a continuation of a "pilot program last year" that featured school marks from Arkansas, Florida, Michigan and Texas on packaging. The agreement "will grow into a 16-school deal" for '14-15. Chobani's sponsorship with 17 colleges "will grow to at least 27 schools over the course of its three-year deal." It will include "many of IMG College's premier brands, including Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas and UCLA." The Chobani deal also involves the "use of the school's marks, digital and radio advertising on the schools' websites and CampusInsiders.com, and sampling opportunities." The three-year deal is valued at more than $1M annually. Chobani will work with Droga5 "on its advertising and creative, while GMR Marketing will assist the company with experiential marketing and sampling" (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 8/4 issue). AD AGE's E.J. Schultz noted the college-themed Jell-O kits last year were sold at Amazon.com and Walmart, with Amazon selling out "of its 20,000 allotment in less than a week." As an example of the product, the Texas kit "included orange-flavored Jell-O, molds in the shape of the Longhorn mascot and packaging emblazoned with the university's familiar 'Hook 'Em' rallying cry." Among the schools being added this year are LSU, Ohio State and UCLA. The deal with IMG includes Jell-O branded content "on in-stadium video boards and social-media plugs on official university athletic Twitter and Facebook pages" (ADAGE.com, 8/4).
