Staples is dropping its NFL corporate sponsorship after seven years in favor of a network of NFL team deals.
Like many NFL sponsorship categories, office supplies had included local NFL team rights until the most recent renewal. Given Staples’ strength on both coasts, an NFL league deal without team rights was not attractive to Staples, which has about 1,100 U.S. stores.
Marci Grebstein, vice president of media and consumer marketing, said Staples has completed team deals with the New York Jets, San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks and Washington Redskins. Team sources said deals with the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots (Staples’ headquarters is in suburban Boston) were near completion.
Grebstein would say only that Staples would not sign more than 10 team deals this season. As for the switch in strategy?
“Ideally, we would have both [national and local] rights, but as a retailer, it’s the local marketing rights that are important,” Grebstein said.
Staples will continue as an advertiser on NFL broadcasts; but the size of the buy has not been determined. Last year, Staples had a large presence on CBS, through which it leveraged its “Coach of the Week” promo, along with smaller packages on Fox and ABC/ESPN.
Staples’ competitors have had team deals, though they did not allow use of team marks until now. Office Depot has a sponsorship with the Miami Dolphins; Office Max has a Chicago Bears affiliation and is looking to renew its sponsorship with the Cleveland Browns.
LEVERAGING BY REMOTE CONTROL: Sunoco will be selling about 400,000 remote control 1:72 scale NASCAR cars as premiums this summer at its 4,500 locations, its first retail promotion supporting the 10-year sponsorship it signed last August as NASCAR’s official fuel supplier.
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| Sunoco is revving up its first retail promotion as NASCAR’s official fuel supplier. |
Licensed replicas of cars driven by Michael Waltrip as well as two separate Dale Earnhardt Jr. cars (sans the Budweiser logo in deference to the kid-targeted promo) will be available for $9.99 in July and August. Radio, print and point-of-sale materials support.
Jaine Lucas, Sunoco’s director of brand management, said the sale of remote-control cars is an initial step toward Sunoco’s selling a variety of NASCAR- and driver-licensed merchandise, both at retail and online. Aside from NASCAR, Sunoco also has official fuel status for more than 40 other motorsports sanctioning organizations.
DRAFTING CUSTOMERS: Two of the NBA’s three telecom sponsors are among those activating around Thursday’s NBA draft in New York. Verizon Wireless is running a text-message-based draft trivia contest leading up to the event. On draft day, it will offer updates to customers who register to receive them.
Nokia is also expected to use its new wireless video rights around the draft, though plans were not complete yet.
The “Got Milk?” people are leveraging via a satellite media tour with Miami Heat player Dwyane Wade and ESPN’s Greg Anthony touting the healthful benefits of milk, which rookies will surely swill in celebration of their selection by an NBA team.
Other sponsors involved include Sprite and AmEx. All will receive hospitality and signs at the event and varying amounts of media on NBA TV, nba.com and ESPN, which is televising the draft.
MASS MARKET: Targeting Japanese and American investors, MassMutual has signed a sponsorship deal with the New York Mets that includes rights to use shortstop Kaz Matsui in marketing. MassMutual will have English and Japanese ads on rotating signs at Shea Stadium, and Matsui will appear in print ads in Japan and in the company’s annual report.
MasterCard is another financial services sponsor of the Mets to have augmented its deal with marketing rights to Matsui.
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
