“Believe In Now” is the seasonlong theme for the NFL’s 2008 NFL campaign. The league introduced the marketing platform, along with the logo for Super Bowl XLIII, to about 300 licensees, team officials and retailers who gathered at Dolphin Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla., last week for the sixth annual summit of “hard lines,” or nonapparel, licensees.
A final version of last season’s theme accompanied
the big finish by Eli Manning and the Giants.
With marketing plans for NFL licensees, and especially corporate sponsors, often made 18 months in advance, the NFL for years had talked about establishing a marketing calendar with which its business partners could align. Beginning with the artful “Road to XL” campaign and moving forward, the league has at long last succeeded in making it an annual marketing bandwagon that an increasing number of NFL business partners are using in their marketing.
With a Super Bowl not decided until the final minute, last season’s “Who Wants It More?” line worked so well that there was some sentiment to keeping it, said Jaime Weston, the league’s director of brand management and integration marketing and sales. “But we decided to go with something new that focused on the emotion and passion of the NFL while dialing up the sense of urgency,” Weston said. “We want fans to feel like they can’t miss a moment, because there might be a ‘now’ moment at any time during the season.”
Of course, that also makes the theme relevant throughout the NFL calendar. EA used last year’s theme in its top selling Madden NFL game, and among TV rights holders, NBC used “Who Wants It More” to promote its Wild Card Weekend, while CBS used the line all season to tout its NFL telecasts.
GAME PLAN FOR CHANGE: During a speech to the assembled licensees, Mark Waller, NFL senior vice president of sales and marketing, identified youth, Hispanic, health/fitness, and globalization as the top areas of focus for the NFL.
“Youth and Hispanic are hugely important to us if we are to stay the No. 1 sport,” Waller said. “I find it incredibly worrying that when you step out on a Saturday morning where I live at least half the kids are playing soccer. To stay No. 1 we have to own kids and be their most popular sport.”
Noting the country’s increasingly Hispanic population, he said the NFL is “massively underrepresented in the Hispanic market.” The most immediate cause for concern is the flow of sponsorship dollars.
“Look at the global sports sponsors, the people who really have the money, and most of them have significant soccer investments already, whether its Gillette, McDonald’s or Budweiser,” he said. “Our job is to make sure we keep those sponsors active in our sport, because they have a finite amount of dollars.”
Waller said the NFL needs to tap into Americans’ increasing health consciousness. “People do not think of us as the sport that will get me fit and healthy and they should,” he said. “How we get more adults and kids being healthy and making the NFL a path of achieving that is critically important. We need to have health and fitness as part of our core marketing.”
“Youth and Hispanic are hugely important
to us if we are to stay the No. 1 sport. I find
it incredibly worrying that when you step out
on a Saturday morning where I live at least half
the kids are playing soccer.”
MARK WALLERNFL SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT
OF SALES AND MARKETING
As for exporting what most of the world calls American Football? “We have to find a way to be meaningful in the global environment because ultimately that’s what will matter to fans here,” he said. “They will want to be part of something big, global and meaningful, which is why the Olympics and the (FIFA) World Cup gets more and more popular. Where we are experts is in catering to 24- to 55-year-old U.S. males. That’s made us the world’s most successful sports league and the world’s most successful sports business, but that skill set is probably not going to be enough moving forward.”
LICENSING LINES: Among the “never seen a logo on that before” items were the scented candles and room fragrance diffusers from car freshener licensee Pro Freshener of Denver. Aimed at female NFL fans, they are priced from the mid-$20s, come in scents such as vanilla and apple cinnamon and are slated for a June introduction. Looking to add some green beyond uniform colors, Concord Industries, Norwalk, Conn., is rolling out a line of solar-powered cell phone chargers, lanterns and flashlights. Concord’s Allan Altschull said pricing and distribution were to be determined for the company’s “Solar Products” line. Concord is better known for key chains and leather goods. … Team Sports America was offering solar-powered, team-logoed garden stones, in which the logo lights up. … Wild Sales, Carmel, Ind., is expanding from toss games and tailgate implements into the office with an NFL-logoed leather office chair that will retail for $300 to $400. President Jack Queally would not say which office-supply chain would carry the chair, but we noticed that when we told him that Staples still has some local NFL team sponsorships, he was well aware. … Also catching our eye was Boelter Brands’ “Wrap-R-Ator,” a mini NFL refrigerator portable enough to hold 24 cans of your favorite game-time beverage. It can be used as a cooler or heater and works with AC or DC power, at home or in the car. It’ll retail for about $200. … ProMark is expanding its line of NFL tools, while Fantasia, Monterey Park, Calif., is complementing that with nylon tool bags, tool belts, and bucket liners with NFL marks that will retail for about $30.
HAVING A BALL: NFL licensee Scottish Christmas was showing off what it was calling a “Super Ball.” While the ball does not “bounce over houses,” as was the claim of the original Super Balls, it does come with the logo of NFL teams and more: embedded chips make a panel on the ball blink red and blue when bounced, and the ball also plays the familiar theme song from “Monday Night Football.” As you might expect after 40 years of the product, the price has increased. The original Super Ball cost about a buck; the NFL version has a suggested retail price of $8.
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE GREENS: For a show put on by and for NFL licensees, there was a remarkable amount of golf product on display. Acushnet’s Titleist and FootJoy brands were displaying their NFL products. The last company with wide golf rights from the NFL was Callaway, whose deal ended two years ago. FootJoy’s new collection of custom-made NFL golf spikes were voted as one of best new products at the show. Titleist was also showing a plethora of NFL logoed golf equipment, including balls, umbrellas, bags and towels, all of which should hit retail in April. Not to be outdone, towel specialist McArthur continues to expand its golf line with logo-bedecked club covers and shoe bags.
