Bose is officially out as sponsor of NFL coaches' headsets as the start of April is here, which means the rights Bose had controlled for the past eight seasons have expired. There were more than a few clues along the way, not the least of which was the absence of Bose marketers at the recent Super Bowl. Additionally, the man who handled the NFL sponsorship for Bose, Head of Global Marketing and Partnership Activation Pat LaCroix, left the audio brand last month for a job as Senior VP/Revenue Optimization at search engine Seekr.com. The league will still need someone to supply headsets, but the Bose branding will not be on them.
A marketer well-connected with NFL commerce said, "The only way Bose comes back to the NFL is with players.” Bose has teamed up with various marquee NFLers at one point or another, including Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, Aaron Rodgers, Baker Mayfield and Justin Herbert. “The most logical marketing move for them to get into now is music," said the source.
See more analysis on Bose's departure and what the NFL could do next in the SBJ Marketing newsletter.
