The ultra-competitive insurance category has another player deepening its presence in the college sponsorship arena.
New York Life Insurance, the largest mutual life insurance company in the U.S., will be presenting sponsor of both the men’s and women’s Big East Conference basketball tournaments in March. The men’s tournament will be held at Madison Square Garden, while the women will play in Hartford, Conn.
New York Life is attempting to carve out its own territory in a space dominated by Allstate, known for its field goal nets program and Sugar Bowl title sponsorship, and State Farm, an NCAA corporate partner.
New York Life has been a heavy media spender of late, advertising during SEC football on CBS, multiple bowl games on ESPN/ABC and the NCAA tournament. It came on board with the Big East last year as a sponsor of the conference Web site and game webcasts, but the insurance giant upped the ante signifi cantly this year with a deal that incorporates the company’s logo into the Big East championship logo.
The New York Life deal was sold by ISP Sports, which goes into its third year with the multimedia rights to the Big East property. New York Life is represented by TargetCast, a media and marketing agency out of New York.
ISP has enjoyed a recent run of good sales fortune with the Big East property, which also has recently added Hershey’s, State Street Global Advisers and StubHub, among others.
“New York Life came on last year and decided that they wanted to do more,” said Jim Prendergast, ISP’s general manager for the Big East property.
Corporate partner deals begin in the $250,000 to $500,000 range and extend up to seven figures for the more prominent positions. Financial specifics for the one-year New York Life deal were not available, but industry insiders believe it reaches into the low to mid-seven figures with an inventory of assets that includes the inside and outside of Madison Square Garden, extensive positioning on the court and a media package.
New York Life will have ad inventory and an in-game feature on ESPN, the tournament’s broadcast partner; regular-season and tournament units on the Big East radio network, run by ISP; and extensive branding on and around the court.
Hershey’s and Freecreditreport.com will have secondary positioning on the court. Hershey’s will promote its Reese’s brand. A pair of banners that stretch down two sides of Madison Square Garden are part of ISP’s inventory. New York Life will have its marks on one banner. The Big East’s corporate partners will be recognized on the other.
The tournaments were without presenting sponsors last year; previously Aéropostale was the presenting sponsor.
