While beer and soft drink brands are among the biggest marketing spenders in sports, New York Yankees manager Joe Torre has signed a different kind of beverage endorsement deal.
 |
| Joe Torre drinks tea in the dugout, so he is a natural pitchman for Bigelow Tea. |
Torre, often shown on television drinking tea in the dugout during games, will appear in print and radio ads for Bigelow Tea beginning this week, coinciding with the start of Major League Baseball’s playoffs.
The print ads will appear in local editions of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and regional editions of Sports Illustrated and other publications. The ad shows a placid Torre, sitting on some bleachers in Central Park, holding a cup of Bigelow Green Tea, the lead product he is touting. The ad states, “Look Who’s Drinking Bigelow Green Tea Now,” and includes a testimonial from Torre.
Radio spots will run on WFAN in New York — which, ironically, is the New York Mets’ flagship station.
The two-year deal with Torre was engineered by Maury Gostfrand’s Vision Sports Group, NYC.
“It was one of those happy coincidences where they wanted Joe because they knew he was a tea drinker and he was already using their product,” Gost-frand said.
