Guaranteed Rate is becoming the new title sponsor for the Cactus Bowl, renaming it the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. It is just the latest effort by the Chicago-based retail mortgage lender in the sports world. Company President & CEO Victor Ciardelli said of the bowl game, “We love football in general, but we never found any real good opportunities with the NFL. This was a great opportunity to be involved in football overall, but more importantly, colleges.” The company has done a one-off sponsorship of NASCAR driver Ryan Newman as well as sponsoring the PBA’s fall swing, WorldTeam Tennis, USA Cornhole, Bassmasters and this weekend’s Skate America in Las Vegas. Ciardelli said it is all part of a concerted effort to move deeper into sports that is far from finished. He said, “We are looking at deals almost every single day and continuing to expand in our footprint and sports overall.”
SOX APPEAL: Guaranteed Rate’s most notable foray into sports is with its 13-year naming-rights deal for the White Sox’ ballpark, which was announced in ’16. The COVID-19 pandemic affected all businesses associated with sports. Without fans attending games, the brand did not have the exposure that comes with having nearly 40,000 fans filing into the ballpark 81 times over the summer, not to mention one in which the White Sox reached the postseason for the first time in 12 years. To make up for the loss, Ciardelli said, “We had a sign where the seats were behind home plate, so we were really well positioned there. We ended up putting additional signage as far as the camera angle behind the dugout on both sides so you were able to see Guaranteed Rate prominently displayed. Then we added additional signage on the pitcher’s mound.” According to NBC Sports Chicago, White Sox ratings on the net saw a significant increase of 89% from last season. Ciardelli said of the exposure from the signage: “It ended up working out really well from a brand perspective.”
