Cheez-It is deepening its ties to college football, as the popular snack brand has signed a multiyear deal to title sponsor the Cactus Bowl beginning with this year's game at Chase Field. The bowl title sponsorship is the first ever for the Kellogg's brand, which already is a big sponsor of ESPN’s weekly "College GameDay." The fully-integrated partnership includes digital and social media, content, in-game exposure, product sampling and on-site activation on game day, as well as activation in local markets. Cheez-It will also appear in the Fiesta Bowl Parade with a float and custom balloon. Denver-based Impression Sports & Entertainment helped broker the pact between the Fiesta Bowl organization, which runs the game, and Cheez-It. The 30th edition of the Cheez-It Bowl, which will feature teams from the Big 12 and Pac-12 conferences, will be played on Dec. 26. ESPN will air the game.
Fiesta Bowl Exec Dir Mike Nealy said Cheez-It in their talks expressed a desire to increase their presence around the holiday bowl season, so that was a "period that they wanted to attack and it was perfect to match up with us." Nealy added Cheez-It was "excited about this property being available" due to the connection to the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl and the consistent attendance and TV ratings the game garners. "This game worked well for their marketing needs and for us it was a great partner," Nealy said. "We've had a few years now without any long-term partner, so we're very excited about having someone who’s in this for the long term." The game was without a title sponsor last season, with Motel 6 owning the naming rights for the two iterations prior to that. Ticket City was title sponsor for the January '15 game, and Buffalo Wild Wings held the rights for the '12 and '13 games. Before that, Insight served as the title sponsor for 15 years.
