Masterfoods is aggressively expanding its NFL playbook of programs in the second year of its four-year league sponsorship, with the centerpiece being an extensive ad buy for its Snickers brand on ABC's "Monday Night Football" and a promotion that will be splashed across more than 400 million candy bars this fall.
In addition, Masterfoods has made ad buys on each of the NFL's television partners and will sell NFL-branded candy and include a league premium program. It also has expanded its team deals to include 17 NFL clubs, with another deal expected to be completed shortly by the company's sports marketing agency, Octagon.
In Snickers' "Hungriest Player of the Game" promotion, fans will be asked to cast votes online for the top performer during each Monday night game. To cast their votes, however, users must have a code from the inside of a wrapper from a specially marked Snickers, Snickers Cruncher or Snickers Almond bar.
Each voter for the "hungriest player" whose selection matches the choice of ABC's "Monday Night Football" broadcast crew (to be revealed on ESPN's "SportsCenter" following the game) receives an electronic coupon good for a free Snickers bar. Those voters also are entered in a sweepstakes that will give away a trip each week to Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston.
Snickers' longtime ad agency, BBDO, New York, was shooting an ad supporting the promo last week in which Chicago Bears linebacker Brian Urlacher becomes so distracted by hunger and emotion that he accidentally breaks through the wall of his own locker room and finds himself in his opponents' quarters.
Additional support for the "Hungriest Player" contest will come from a weekly ad in Sports Illustrated that will list the prior week's winner and the candidates for the upcoming game.
Having signed a four-year, eight-figure NFL sponsorship deal last September, Masterfoods (formerly M&M/Mars) had little time to plan and execute promotional support. But the company will leverage across a variety of platforms this season.
Masterfoods' 17 team deals are with the Arizona Cardinals, Atlanta Falcons, Baltimore Ravens, Buffalo Bills, Carolina Panthers, Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Miami Dolphins, Minnesota Vikings, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers and St. Louis Rams.
M&M's "NFL Team Mix" (that is, M&M's in team colors with club logos on packaging) will be sold in the home markets of the Cowboys, Broncos, Texans, Giants and Dolphins. Point-of-sale and retail-specific promos support.
Masterfoods' NFL premium is a co-branded NFL team/Snickers backpack from Reebok, available for $21.45 with two universal price codes from bags of select candies.
A postseason marketing campaign involving a major point-of-sale display push and Super Bowl logos on bagged "party-size" products will tout M&M's and miniature versions of other products as a must for snacking during the Super Bowl.
"We want to get consumers thinking of M&M's as a Super Bowl staple, along with soda, beer and chips," said Scott Hudler, sports sponsorship manager at Masterfoods.
