The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) has re-signed apparel maker Wrangler to a five-year licensing and sponsorship deal that includes a cash payment in the mid-to-high seven-figure range over the term.
The deal is 30 percent higher this year than in the final year of the previous three-year deal, and it goes up by 6 percent a year, said Randy Bernard, CEO of the PBR.
The licensing deal calls for the first PBR-branded Wrangler jeans. PBR suggested the idea three years ago, Bernard said, but Wrangler demurred. "Wrangler didn't see a need for a branded pair of jeans then, but they did some research and found out it would be a good idea," he said.
Wrangler has marketed PBR-branded knit shirts and T-shirts in recent years.
The jeans will have PBR branding on the back tag, the fifth pocket, the button, and on the zipper lining and pocket linings. The back tag will be a distinctive black with a stylized PBR bull logo, Bernard said. The jeans will not have the traditional Wrangler boot cut, but a slightly hipper cut, Bernard said.
The PBR will work with Wrangler on increased marketing activities during the deal, Bernard said, including more ticket promotions involving Wrangler products and a dedicated marketing push toward the Hispanic audience.
The latter was scheduled to begin Sunday, as the PBR's Mohegan Sun Invitational in Connecticut was to be televised on Telemundo, the first PBR event on that network. It was part of a rights-fee deal with Telemundo that will include the New Orleans Open this Sunday. Both telecasts were taped in November. Bernard said Telemundo paid a small rights fee, but he wouldn't be more specific.
RAZOR CUTS APPAREL DEAL: Razor USA, the North American marketing arm for the most popular motorless scooter in North America, is scheduled to announce today its first apparel licensing deal, for a full line of youth-oriented activewear. New York City-based H.F. Manufacturing has signed a multiyear deal to produce tops and bottoms for kids ranging from infant through age 11. It plans a soft launch in major retail chains this fall with a full line in 2004.
It's part of an effort for each company to broaden its appeal.
Razor is famous for driving the metal scooter craze that swept the country in 2000, but sales of that product began skidding in 2001. The company now makes a wide range of bikes, skateboards, pogo sticks and other action products, and it wants kids who know the Razor brand to get to know the newer products, which will be featured on some of the apparel.
For H.F. Manufacturing, this is the only sports-related licensing deal it currently has; a Little League license expired a year ago. Most of its sales are in the dress-up kids category, with brands like Happy Fella and Little Jacques.
Neither Razor nor H.F. Manufacturing would discuss their yearly revenues or the terms of the deal.
To further promote its expanded product line, Razor plans to produce a DVD that will be packaged with every Razor product this year, numbering "in the millions," according to Katherine Mahoney, Razor's vice president of marketing. Mahoney called the multimedia disc a video/magazine/TV show and said it's the company's most aggressive marketing plan to date, adding that the company has "never spent a dime on traditional advertising."
"All our communication through our audience has been through either grassroots efforts like [the 20-person] Team Razor, retail-store demos or public relations," she said.
Mahoney said research has shown that extreme sports fans in a wide age range had a 94 percent aided recall of the Razor brand.
WORLDWIDE SPONSORSHIP GROWS: The global sponsorship marketplace grew an estimated 5 percent in 2001 to $27.4 billion, by 10 percent in 2002 to $30.1 billion, and will grow by 14 percent this year, according to a report released by SponsorClick.
This growth will happen "despite recession in the U.S., slower growth in Europe and the effects of the terrorist attacks in September 2001," the report said.
The report added that the 10 percent average annual growth since 1991 will continue for the long term, "as there is both structural and technical support for it."
Globally, sponsorship makes up only 4 percent of all marketing communications, the report said. North America accounts for 40 percent of sponsorship spending and Europe for 33 percent — a number SponsorClick sees growing to overcome North America by the end of this decade.
Noah Liberman can be reached at nliberman@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
