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Marketing and Sponsorship

Coca-Cola Confirms F1 Sponsorship Interest, Says It Is 'Evaluating' Possible Involvement

Coca-Cola is "evaluating" a sponsorship of F1 but "suggests that it is not likely to involve its flagship brand," according to PIT PASS. Coca-Cola Head of Global Sports and Entertainment Marketing Emmanuel Seuge "had been researching F1, as well as the drink's sponsorships in the past." Coca-Cola Global Partnerships and Experiential Marketing VP Scott McCune said, "Both I, personally, and the company have great respect for [F1 CEO] Bernie Ecclestone and Formula One and what they have done." He added: "They have built a phenomenal platform, and you can see its popularity. We look at that and see if there is a brand fit for us. We are evaluating that right now" (PIT PASS, 11/15). PIT PASS also reported in '05 Coca-Cola was in talks with Ecclestone about "becoming title sponsor of the sport, but in the end he decided that associating it so closely with any single company could damage relationships with other brands." Ecclestone said, "I wouldn't do that because it would destabilise everybody. It would certainly stop all the promoters or us doing their own race title sponsorships." He added, "Somebody would probably do it if I wasn't around." At one stage it was thought that "Coca-Cola may be considering taking title sponsorship of either the U.S. Grand Prix or the planned race in New Jersey." Coca-Cola is also understood to "have come close to doing a deal with the Renault F1 team, but it too never got off the grid though for a very different reason" (PIT PASS, 11/15).

FINDING THE RIGHT FIT: MOTORSPORT TOTAL's Christian Nimmervoll reported that F1 "is not a natural fit for Coca-Cola, that is why it will most-likely use another brand if it goes through with its sponsorship plan." McCune said, "We have other brands we are looking at." One of those brands could be energy drink Relentless in order to compete with Red Bull and Monster. However, the Coca-Cola company consists of more than 500 individual brands in more than 200 countries worldwide (MOTORSPORT TOTAL, 11/16).

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 25, 2024

NFL meeting preview; MLB's opening week ad effort and remembering Peter Angelos.

Big Get Jay Wright, March Madness is upon us and ESPN locks up CFP

On this week’s pod, our Big Get is CBS Sports college basketball analyst Jay Wright. The NCAA Championship-winning coach shares his insight with SBJ’s Austin Karp on key hoops issues and why being well dressed is an important part of his success. Also on the show, Poynter Institute senior writer Tom Jones shares who he has up and who is down in sports media. Later, SBJ’s Ben Portnoy talks the latest on ESPN’s CFP extension and who CBS, TNT Sports and ESPN need to make deep runs in the men’s and women's NCAA basketball tournaments.

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SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

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