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Geico rises to top in fallback year for sponsors

NHL sponsors this year saw mixed results in their recognition levels among fans, compared with the 2013-14 season, a year that featured broad gains for the league’s partners, according to the NHL sponsor loyalty survey conducted for SportsBusiness Journal by Turnkey Sports & Entertainment.

The NHL’s 2013-14 season was the first full season for the league after the lockout-shortened 2012-13 campaign. Last year also featured NHL players competing in the Sochi Winter Olympic Games as well as six outdoor games throughout the season, including the four-game Coors Light NHL Stadium Series. With a backdrop of those events, the NHL’s corporate partners in each of the sponsorship categories measured in the 2014 survey saw their recognition marks among fans increase — rising along with attendance and TV ratings for the league.

Geico was deeply involved in the Winter Classic in Washington, D.C., near its HQs.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
The league had fewer showcase events this year: two outdoor games and no Olympics, though the NHL did hold its first All-Star Game since 2012. (The 2013 game was canceled because of the lockout; no game was played last year because of the Olympics.) The number of fans who correctly identified the league’s sponsors in this year’s survey also declined across many of the measured categories, though numbers for most of the league’s partners still ranked ahead of their 2013 marks.

In the case of Geico, not only did its numbers go up compared with 2013, but its scores this year also made it the most recognized NHL sponsor in the survey, ahead of previous No. 1 Gatorade.

The company was highly involved in the Jan. 1 Winter Classic in Washington, D.C., played about 10 miles from Geico’s Chevy Chase, Md., headquarters. Geico was the presenting sponsor of the fan festival outside of Nationals Park, the site of the game. Due to its popularity with fans, the festival was open not only before the game but also afterward.

During the season, Geico had a dasherboard presence in-arena for NBC/NBC Sports Network’s national game broadcasts, and it had a heavy in-game media presence, with a campaign featuring Washington Capitals star Nicklas Backstrom.

Brian Cull, group vice president of integrated marketing for the NHL, said the past season was notable on the sponsorship front for the partners that the league added, as well. Those newly signed partners included DraftKings (deal in November), Constellation Energy (December) and GoPro (January). The deals filled new sponsorship categories for the league: daily fantasy, energy services and action camera. Cull also noted the companies for their activations, saying that they “challenged us for newer and fresher partnerships in the social landscape.”

Among other findings in the survey:

■ Discover saw its numbers increase from 2014 in the credit card category. The company launched its NHL It Card at the start of the playoffs, allowing fans to get a card that featured either a team logo or the NHL crest. “They had a soft launch around the playoffs,” Cull said, “and it has been very successful so far.”

■ Starwood Hotels, an NHL partner since 2003, saw gains from 2014 for both its Sheraton and its Westin brands. Among the company’s activations, the Sheraton logo was featured prominently on the boards at Nationwide Arena in Columbus for this year’s All-Star Game.

■ PepsiCo’s Gatorade and Pepsi brands were among those NHL sponsors that lost ground compared with their 2014 survey results. The company’s Amp Energy brand, however, saw gains, with more fans correctly identifying it as a sponsor this year than did so last year. Gatorade maintained its clear lead among brands in the sports/energy drink category even with its decline. For the first time since 2010, more fans thought (incorrectly) that Coca-Cola was the league’s soft drink category sponsor than Pepsi. Pepsi lost national visibility this year with the decline of the Colorado Avalanche, who went from a playoff team in 2014 playing in Pepsi Center to missing the postseason this year.

■ Verizon saw its numbers go down in the wireless service category, but before the season, Verizon chose not to renew its sponsorship with the NHL, creating an open category for the league in its sponsor roster. Verizon’s platforms had included activation through the NHL’s GameCenter app.

Methodology

For this project, Turnkey Sports & Entertainment, through its Turnkey Intelligence operation, conducted national consumer research surveys among a sample of 400 members of the Toluna online panel who were at least 18 years old.
The 2015 survey was conducted May 19-22, a period that coincided with the NHL conference finals. The 2014 and 2013 surveys ran at a similar point during those seasons.

Respondents were analyzed based on their avidity levels. “Avid” fans are those who responded “4” or “5” to the question “How big a fan are you of the NHL?” and claimed to “look up news, scores and standings several times a week or more often,” “watch/listen/attend at least 10 games per season” and “have a favorite team.” Fans categorized as “casual” responded “3” to the same initial question, then claimed to “look up news, scores and standings several times a month or more often,” “watch/listen/attend at least 3 games per season” and “have a favorite team.”

When asked to identify official sponsors, respondents selected from a field of brands that was provided to them for each business sector. Only the top-scoring companies and brands are listed in the results published here. The percentage responses listed have been rounded. The margin of error for the surveys is +/- 4 percent.

Turnkey Intelligence performs research work for more than 70 North American major league teams, league offices and brands. More than one-third of the NHL’s teams are among Turnkey’s clients.

IMPACT ON SAMPLING AND SUPPORT

Are you more or less likely to consider trying a product/service if that product/service is an official sponsor of the NHL?
  Avid Casual
  2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
More likely 51.5% 60.8% 46.5% 34.0% 45.8% 35.9%
Unaffected or less likely 48.5% 39.2% 53.5% 66.0% 54.2% 64.2%
Are you more or less likely to consciously support a company by purchasing its products/services if the company is an official sponsor of the NHL?
  Avid Casual
  2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
More likely 54.0% 62.8% 47.5% 35.0% 49.2% 33.4%
Unaffected or less likely 46.0% 37.2% 52.5% 65.0% 50.8% 66.7%
Are you more or less likely to recommend a product/service to a friend or family member if that product/service is an official sponsor of the NHL?
  Avid Casual
  2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
More likely 54.5% 57.8% 41.0% 34.0% 42.7% 35.3%
Unaffected or less likely 45.5% 42.2% 59.0% 66.0% 57.2% 64.7%

SPONSORSHIP SIGNIFICANCE AND ASSESSMENT

Subject: How much more likely are fans to consider purchasing/using an NHL sponsor's product/service if they are aware of the relationship?
To read: 37 percent of NHL fans said they would be more likely to consider purchasing insurance from a company that is the NHL's official insurance sponsor if they knew which brand had that designation. The rate increased to 56 percent when considering only those NHL fans who correctly knew that Geico is the NHL's official insurance partner.

CATEGORY (NHL SPONSOR) AMONG ALL NHL FANS AMONG NHL FANS WHO CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED THE SPONSOR DIFFERENCE
Hotel (Westin*) 39% 77% +38 pct. points
Insurance company (Geico) 37% 56% +19 pct. points
Beer (Coors Light**) 42% 57% +15 pct. points
Automotive (Honda) 41% 56% +15 pct. points
Tire (Bridgestone) 39% 53% +14 pct. points
Sports/energy drink (Gatorade) 42% 55% +13 pct. points
Quick-service restaurant (McDonald's) 41% 51% +10 pct. points
Soft drink (Pepsi) 45% 54% +9 pct. points
Credit card (Discover^) 40% 45% +5 pct. points

Subject: What brands do fans think should be NHL sponsors?
To read: 50 percent of NHL fans said they think McDonald's should be an NHL sponsor, compared with 22 percent who think Wendy's should have an NHL deal. Those numbers became 56 percent and 20 percent, respectively, when considering only those NHL fans who correctly knew that McDonald's is the NHL's official sponsor in the quick-service restaurant category.

  AMONG ALL NHL FANS AMONG NHL FANS WHO CORRECTLY IDENTIFIED THE SPONSOR
NHL SPONSOR/COMPETITOR RESPONSE RATES DIFFERENCE RESPONSE RATES DIFFERENCE
Gatorade/Powerade 45% / 13% +32 pct. points 63% / 11% +52 pct. points
McDonald's/Wendy's 50% / 22% +28 pct. points 56% / 20% +36 pct. points
Geico/Allstate 32% / 29% +3 pct. points 56% / 27% +29 pct. points
Bridgestone/Michelin 24% / 30% -6 pct. points 43% / 23% +20 pct. points
Honda/Ford 26% / 34% -8 pct. points 44% / 29% +15 pct. points
Coors Light**/Anheuser-Busch 19% / 34% -15 pct. points 32% / 27% +5 pct. points
Pepsi/Coca-Cola 35% / 54% -19 pct. points 51% / 54% -3 pct. points
Westin*/Wyndham 12% / 10% +2 pct. points 0% / 8% -8 pct. points

Notes: Fans could select both the official sponsor and the competitor if they chose to do so. The one specific competing company listed was selected by Turnkey for consideration in the survey file.
* Westin is one of the brands of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which is the NHL's sponsor in the hotel category. Starwood also featured its Sheraton brand in activations through the season (see chart, next page), but Westin was the brand asked about in this portion of the survey.
** As part of the Molson Coors partnership, Coors Light and Molson Canadian are both considered official beers of the NHL in North America, but Molson was not asked about in this portion of the survey.
^ Discover holds the category rights in the U.S.; Visa holds the rights in Canada.

Which of the following is an official sponsor of the NHL?

  Avid Casual
insurance 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
Geico* 28.5% 34.2% 27.0% 22.0% 24.9% 18.9%
State Farm 7.0% 10.6% 3.0% 6.5% 4.5% 5.0%
Allstate 6.0% 7.5% 6.0% 6.5% 9.0% 7.5%
I’m not sure 36.0% 34.7% 53.0% 51.0% 46.8% 58.2%

Despite a drop in its overall recognition numbers from last season, Geico surpassed Gatorade to become the most recognized brand in our study among NHL fans this year. A Twitter-based trivia contest sponsored by Geico ran from April 15 to June 5 in which fans entered by tweeting the correct answer of a trivia question to @NHL and using the hashtag #GEICOCupCrazy. A heavy in-game advertiser throughout the season, Geico also was the presenting sponsor of a spectator plaza set up in Washington, D.C., at this year’s Winter Classic.

  Avid Casual
sports/energy drink 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
Gatorade* 30.0% 35.7% 26.0% 18.5% 26.4% 22.4%
Red Bull 8.5% 12.6% 6.0% 11.5% 12.9% 9.5%
Powerade 9.0% 9.0% 6.5% 4.0% 10.0% 6.0%
Monster 4.5% 2.5% 2.5% 8.0% 5.5% 2.0%
Amp Energy* 5.0% 2.0% 3.5% 4.0% 0.5% 1.5%
I’m not sure 36.5% 29.1% 50.0% 49.0% 42.3% 54.2%

Gatorade showcased its NHL sponsorship with a series of videos featuring NHL stars surprising a team of sled hockey players that included Paralympians from the Sochi Games. The company also was presenting sponsor of EA Sports’ “NHL ’15” Plays of the Month, which let fans upload their “NHL ’15” clips to YouTube and through EA Sports’ website. Among other brands, Amp Energy (another label from Gatorade’s parent company, PepsiCo) was a sponsor of the hardest-shot contest at the All-Star Skills Competition and also titled the Amp No Bull Moments of the Week video segments on NHL Network and NHL.com.

  Avid Casual
quick-service restaurant 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
McDonald’s* 28.5% 28.6% 19.0% 19.5% 26.9% 16.9%
Subway 8.5% 11.6% 13.5% 12.0% 15.9% 7.5%
Taco Bell 4.5% 6.0% 6.5% 5.0% 5.0% 5.5%
KFC 5.0% 3.0% 1.5% 3.5% 0.5% 1.5%
Burger King 3.5% 6.5% 1.5% 5.0% 4.0% 2.5%
I’m not sure 40.5% 36.2% 55.5% 50.0% 42.8% 59.7%

McDonald’s drew broad recognition for its activation at the team level with several clubs and players this year. In Dallas, the Stars ran a promotion encouraging fans before the start of home games to take selfies and post on those images on Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag #McDStars. One fan would then be chosen to go down to the ice and take another selfie with a Stars player. In Ottawa, Senators goaltender Andrew Hammond became one of the season’s stars, and McDonald’s came along for the ride with the player nicknamed the Hamburglar. Hammond featured the McDonald’s character of that name on his mask, and he ultimately received a special card from the owner of several Ottawa-based McDonald’s franchises that will allow him to eat free McDonald’s food for life at those locations.

  Avid Casual
wireless service 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
AT&T 22.5% 18.1% 12.5% 13.0% 8.0% 9.0%
Verizon 19.5% 32.7% 26.0% 14.0% 25.4% 18.9%
Sprint 7.0% 7.0% 5.5% 7.0% 6.5% 4.0%
T-Mobile 5.5% 5.5% 5.0% 6.0% 10.4% 6.0%
I’m not sure 42.0% 30.2% 47.5% 53.0% 44.8% 58.7%

The wireless category is newly open for the league after longtime league sponsor Verizon dropped its corporate sponsorship rights before the season. In addition, in May, it was reported that Verizon will not renew its title sponsorship of the Verizon Center, home of the Washington Capitals, when that deal expires in 2018.

  Avid Casual
credit card 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
Visa* 26.0% 31.7% 23.0% 18.0% 21.9% 24.9%
Discover* 14.5% 14.1% 16.5% 11.0% 10.4% 6.0%
MasterCard 11.5% 12.1% 10.0% 12.0% 13.4% 4.5%
American Express 10.5% 11.1% 5.0% 11.0% 10.0% 6.0%
I’m not sure 33.0% 28.1% 43.5% 46.0% 40.8% 57.7%

In a split category for the league between Discover (United States) and Visa (Canada), both rights holders renewed their sponsorship agreements during the past season. Discover will continue to title sponsor the NHL Thanksgiving Showdown, and the company also has introduced NHL-branded cards. Fans can choose between the NHL shield or any of the 30 NHL team logos to be on their cards. Visa, meanwhile, launched a campaign showcasing eight NHL players participating in contests similar to the league’s All-Star Skills Competition to promote the brand’s payWave contactless payment product.

  Avid Casual
beer 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
Coors Light* 27.0% 24.1% 21.0% 12.5% 14.9% 10.0%
Anheuser-Busch 15.5% 18.6% 13.5% 17.0% 14.9% 14.9%
Labatt 6.5% 6.5% 6.5% 6.0% 4.5% 6.5%
Miller 6.5% 10.1% 13.5% 5.0% 5.5% 8.5%
I’m not sure 31.0% 24.6% 38.5% 46.0% 45.8% 54.2%

Parent company MillerCoors features two of its brands in NHL partnerships: Coors Light in the United States and Molson Canadian in Canada. The Coors Light NHL Stadium Series, which debuted with four games during the 2013-14 season, had just one game this year (San Jose vs. Los Angeles, in Santa Clara, Calif.). However, two Stadium Series games have been announced for 2015-16, with one to be played at Coors Field.

  Avid Casual
soft drink 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
Coca-Cola 19.5% 27.1% 17.0% 19.5% 19.9% 15.9%
Pepsi* 19.5% 24.6% 25.0% 17.5% 24.9% 19.4%
Mountain Dew 4.5% 5.0% 4.0% 3.5% 5.0% 3.5%
Dr Pepper 3.5% 6.0% 3.5% 4.0% 5.0% 4.5%
I’m not sure 38.0% 31.7% 46.5% 46.5% 40.8% 53.2%

Pepsi, an NHL sponsor since 2006, gave away Pepsi Max samples throughout the Coors Light NHL Stadium Series game this season at Levi’s Stadium. The stadium is home to the Pepsi Fan Deck, which features a video board in the shape of a Pepsi bottle cap. The soft drink brand also sponsored a promotion this season through which fans could get $20 off their purchase at the NHL’s online store when they spent $20 or more on participating PepsiCo products in November.

  Avid Casual
automobile 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
Honda* 22.0% 24.6% 15.5% 14.0% 15.4% 12.9%
Ford 13.5% 13.6% 8.5% 8.0% 9.5% 9.5%
General Motors 10.0% 10.1% 9.5% 8.0% 6.0% 7.5%
Toyota 8.0% 10.6% 6.0% 9.5% 8.0% 3.5%
Chrysler 3.5% 2.5% 5.0% 3.5% 5.5% 4.5%
I’m not sure 36.0% 32.2% 51.0% 50.5% 54.2% 57.7%

As part of a multiyear sponsorship renewal with the league agreed to this season, Honda expanded its sponsorship into Canada. Also included in the deal was title sponsorship of the NHL All-Star Skills Competition and the All-Star Game itself. The automaker originally planned to award a Honda Accord to the final two picks of the All-Star draft and to the game’s MVP, but after intense lobbying, a car was presented to Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin as well even though he wasn’t one of those three slotted recipients. Ovechkin’s motivation: He wanted to donate the car (and did) to the Washington Ice Dogs hockey program.

  Avid Casual
tire 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
Bridgestone* 28.5% 26.6% 26.5% 18.0% 22.4% 16.9%
Goodyear 11.5% 15.1% 10.5% 12.5% 11.4% 10.0%
Firestone 11.5% 7.0% 8.0% 6.0% 7.5% 5.0%
Michelin 6.0% 11.6% 7.0% 8.0% 8.0% 7.0%
I’m not sure 37.5% 34.2% 47.0% 48.5% 45.8% 60.7%

Bridgestone has been title sponsor of the Winter Classic since 2009 and ran a sweepstakes called Conquer the Cold leading up to this year’s Jan. 1 game. Consumers who bought a set of four Bridgestone Blizzak winter tires between Oct. 15 and Nov. 30 could enter the contest by guessing the correct temperature at the start of the Winter Classic. People who submitted correct entries were reimbursed for their tire purchases, and the grand prize included a trip for two to the Bridgestone Winter Driving School or a trip for two to a game of the 2015 Stanley Cup Final. Meanwhile, at the game, the Bridgestone Penalty Box was set up inside Nationals Park where fans could take photos with friends and were encouraged to share those images through social media.

  Avid Casual
hotel 2015 2014 2013 2015 2014 2013
Sheraton* 14.5% 5.0% 2.5% 10.0% 4.5% 2.5%
Marriott 9.5% 11.1% 8.0% 7.5% 7.5% 7.5%
Holiday Inn 9.0% 12.1% 9.5% 7.0% 6.5% 6.0%
Best Western 4.0% 4.5% 2.0% 8.0% 4.5% 1.5%
Westin* 3.5% 0.5% 1.5% 3.0% 2.0% 1.0%

League sponsor Starwood Hotels, which signed a three-year renewal with the league last July and whose brands include the Sheraton and Westin labels, held online auctions for members of its Starwood Preferred Guest program allowing them the chance to bid on VIP trips to a Stanley Cup Final game, the NHL draft and the NHL Awards show. The campaign was promoted through social and digital platforms, including the Starwood Preferred Guest website.
* Official NHL sponsor


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