Following a season in which he missed six games because of injury, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is bouncing back with a raft of new marketing activity. Sources said Reebok has agreed in principle to a four-year endorsement deal that would make McNabb the highest-paid sneaker/apparel endorser in the NFL, which would put it around $500,000-$700,000 a year.
Reebok plans to shoot a TV ad before the regular season, and a signature  |
McNabb, who sources say will get plenty of dead presidents from Reebok, appears with one in a new Lincoln Financial ad ( Click here to view the ad). |
cross-training shoe is likely. McNabb, a Nike endorser since he came into the NFL in 1999, gives Reebok a genuine marquee quarterback to complement its exclusive NFL on-field apparel rights.
Additionally, the NFL has inked the elusive Eagles quarterback to a deal that will see McNabb serve as the NFL's "youth ambassador." McNabb will push licensed product — hard goods and apparel — in group efforts for league licensees and rally support for league youth initiatives like flag football and Punt, Pass and Kick. NFL Films will shoot a youth-targeted ad with McNabb this summer.
Lincoln Financial, which signed McNabb in the off-season and also has its brand on the Eagles' new stadium, breaks its first ad with McNabb this week. In the ad, from Omnicom's Martin Williams Advertising, an Abe Lincoln look-alike guides McNabb through a training regimen. Peter Raskin at CSMG reps McNabb for marketing.
TEXAS-SIZED YIELD: Houston's Super Bowl Committee is performing at a pace that belies the host NFL Texans' inaugural 4-12 record. Super Bowl XXXVIII Host Committee president and CEO Robert Dale Morgan says the committee is 75 percent to its goal of $10.2 million in sponsorships, which would be a record.
Sponsors thus far include ConocoPhillips, BMC Software and the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau. Packages range from $500,000 to around $1.2 million with assets that include tickets, hospitality and possible inclusion of sponsor employees in the 10,000 or so volunteers required to staff Super Bowl week. Houston, which last hosted the Super Bowl in 1974, welcomes the game back next Feb. 1.
CURT DECISION: Less than a year after bringing on Curt Curtis as its worldwide chief marketing officer, Octagon has excised both Curtis and four of the five people who joined the agency from Curtis' MarComm Partners. Octagon officials were spinning that Curtis, a longtime IMG exec, was hired to shore up the agency's sales capabilities — a task they said was complete.
Curtis, however, said he had a five-year contract that was abruptly terminated. Despite the difference of opinions, Curtis may remain at Octagon through the end of the year.
MarComm Partners is expected to re-form and ply its hospitality expertise under a different name. Octagon has been under financial pressure as losses at its overseas motorsports division have become a drag on parent company IPG's earnings. It was unclear whether Curtis' ouster was related to those losses. The imminent departure of Curtis is not part of a worldwide restructuring that has been reported elsewhere.
PUNCHIN' JUDY HITTER: In the eternal quest for "the next bobblehead," Action Performance's McArthur Towel
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| McArthur Towel and Sports thinks boxing mascots can match bobbleheads’ punch. |
and Sports division is offering "Action Mascots‚" puppets wearing boxing gloves with college, MLB, NASCAR, NBA, NFL and NHL licenses. With a $10 wholesale price tag, the foot-high marionettes should retail for about $20. Limited NFL teams are available this fall; the rest won't be sold until 2004.
n HERE & THERE: Kathy Carter to Soccer United Marketing, as the New York-based executive vice president. You could call the job shift a transfer, since she had been with Anschutz Entertainment Group for two years as vice president of sales and marketing. AEG is the majority owner of SUM, and owns six of MLS' 10 teams. Carter has also held sponsorship sales jobs with ISL and was a member of the original MLS sponsorship sales crew.
Jacqueline Parkes to senior vice president, advertising and marketing, at MLB, from vice president. Parkes has been at MLB for eight years.
Blaise Cashen, Sports Illustrated's longtime Olympic director, is leaving to run corporate events for NBC. ... Bill Schoonmaker to vice president and management director at 361 Degree Sports + Event Marketing, based in New York City. He was last at WPP Group's Prism agency.
Former Gem Group CEO Rick Jones has established FishBait marketing, his own consultancy, specializing in sponsorship and collegiate sports. Jones said his clients include Host Communications, ESPN, Collegiate Licensing Co., NABC and WBCA.
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
