Ask Ray Bednar, global sponsorship marketing executive at Bank of America, why the financial institution deserves to be sports sponsor of the year and it takes him a nanosecond to collect his thoughts.
Continued to align with top sports properties, including the NFL, Major League Baseball, NASCAR and the U.S. Olympic Committee.
Successful affinity program that taps into the die-hard loyalties of sports fans.
“I don’t see anyone out there that’s got the rigor involved in assessing and driving the future of the sponsorship business,” he said. “We’re at the forefront of variable compensation. We’re at the forefront of tying our relationships with sponsorship properties directly to results for our shareholders.”
Bank of America, formed from the acquisition of BankAmerica in San Francisco by Charlotte-based NationsBank in 1998, has grown into a national brand, merging with or acquiring other banks in the West, Northeast and Midwest. As its brand ubiquity has evolved, so has its sponsorship portfolio.
WHAT PEOPLE
ARE SAYING:
“They epitomize and echo our strategy of being all in. They are committed to Major League Baseball nationally with our broadcast partners, television, print, card services, all these different ways.”
JOHN BRODY
MLB
Mostly gone are the days of title sponsorships and naming-rights deals done primarily to improve brand awareness. That model has been replaced by a mix of league and team deals, a robust affinity program, renewed spending around the Olympics, and event ownership.
From late 2006 through early 2008, the bank added sponsorship designations with NASCAR and the NFL, and signed extensions with the San Francisco Giants and Boston Red Sox. It assumed ownership of the Chicago Marathon and title sponsorship of a Nationwide Tour event when it acquired LaSalle Bank last October. Its portfolio already included official designations with Major and Minor League Baseball, Little League and the U.S. Olympic Committee, as well as various golf assets, team deals and racetrack deals.
The Chicago Marathon presents a new venture into event ownership that could expand to other markets. “It’s kind of a test-and-learn experience to see if we’re comfortable with it,” Bednar said. “If we are, then the sky’s the limit. It’s a great affluent demographic and a wonderful place in terms of consumer interaction.”
Given the nature of its business, Bank of America is in a unique position to show a direct return on investment. The private-wealth line of business is affected by managing the accounts of owners, coaches and players, and an extensive affinity program can tie a financial return in consumer banking directly to individual team deals.
“I think we’re the sustainable future,” Bednar said, “because we can go to our management and our shareholders and say, ‘We should sponsor X team or league because it’s going to be really good for brand association,’ but we can also say, ‘We should sponsor (it) because it makes fundamental business sense for our shareholders.’”
A new partnership between the affinity banking and sponsorship group resulted in more than 20 products across NASCAR, MLB and the NFL, including notables such as Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, the Yankees, Red Sox, Cowboys, Patriots, Redskins and Cubs.
“The real true die-hard passion lies with being a Red Sox fan, a Cowboys fan, a fan of Junior, and if you don’t connect at that point you can’t really fully leverage your affinity banking model,” Bednar said.
The affinity banking products account for 10 to 15 percent of the bank’s year-over-year deposit growth, with sports products delivering a significant portion of that contribution. Sports was the top-selling sector in affinity banking, outpacing new account estimates by three times the original goal.
An outgrowth of that focus on measurement is Bank of America’s evaluation of sponsorships before any negotiations begin on a new contract or extension. “We calculate what the relationship is worth before we make a decision to talk to anyone,” Bednar said.
Banking and sports are the ultimate pay-for-performance industries, and Bednar applies that philosophy to his variable pricing contracts. “Winning, attendance and TV ratings matter,” he said. “I don’t know why you would compensate a property on a strict mono-line basis of a fee regardless of how they do. If they do well, they should earn more; if they don’t do great, they should earn less.”
