The convergence of two potent forces — San Francisco’s reputation as one of America’s leading tourism destinations, and the NFL’s relentless hype around Super Bowl 50 — made this a goldmine for hospitality providers.
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Downtown San Francisco will be a focus for corporate hospitality efforts tied to the weekend.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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At the top of the list is the event’s TV rights holder CBS, which is playing host to about 1,500 guests. Activities include a wine-themed event for all of them on Friday with a Huey Lewis concert in a custom buildout on a pier near AT&T Park. The 85,000-square-foot space will be completely changed over for a party on the next night with a Luke Bryan concert.
“The 50th anniversary, the city, and the projections for this being the most heavily trafficked Super Bowl downtown has attracted a lot of business,” said Jan Katzoff, head of global sports and entertainment at GMR Marketing. The firm is providing hospitality for 13 clients and about 3,500 guests, including CBS, SAP, HP, Intel, Chevron and Visa, whose “Everywhere Lounge,” built within its One Market Plaza offices for hospitality, required cranes to install.
Given the locale, culinary exploits and wine tours to Sonoma and Napa Valley are de rigueur. If companies doing the entertaining aren’t taking clients to Napa or Sonoma, they are bringing vintners to events in San Francisco, including CBS’s Friday night soiree, which will feature 25 local wineries.
“Golf will be hit or miss with the weather, so wine tasting tours are big,” said Jason Zinna of CAA Premium Experience, which is looking at Super Bowl 50 as a coming-out party for its group, formed by a trio of acquisitions over the past two years.
With established events like ESPN’s massive Friday night soiree shrinking from 4,000 to 2,500 people, many in the hospitality biz say their clients want to do more with fewer people.
“We see a pattern of marketers wanting to spend more with smaller events and against partnerships they are already invested in,” said Brian Gordon, CEO at Engine Shop, with Super Bowl clients including ESPN, Mercedes-Benz and Express. “That and the impact of Super Bowl 50 are why you see NFL partners doing more this year.”
A business that started with game and transportation packages has moved well beyond.
“The objective is to make the hosting experiences memorable beyond the game itself,” said Arnold Wright, executive vice president at Octagon, which will host clients including Merrill Lynch, SI, Castrol and Dannon.
“You know there’s going to be a lot of activity at a Super Bowl, so the keys are to hone in early on whether your objectives are brand recognition, relationship development and [your] budget. To break through at an event like this is going to cost you some money.”
No one doubts the efficacy of Super Bowl hospitality. It’s just a matter of cost and value.
“It’s about having a platform to build relationships and have conversations with valued customers in a very exclusive environment,” said Carolyn Eckert, director of integrated marketing at NFL sponsor Castrol, which will be entertaining a group of about 125 people. “You have conversations both personal and business that allow you to form lasting bonds.”
Added Phil Pacsi, Bridgestone vice president of consumer marketing, “You combine this sort of bucket-list event with access to senior events and it’s just a great mix that gets results.”
The Super Bowl hospitality business is healthy enough that the NFL spun off what was its in-house On Location business and made an additional investment in it. Could the future include long-term hospitality deals with NFL sponsors or even PSLs for Super Bowls? Newly minted CEO On Location John Collins isn’t saying much, but he won’t rule out anything either.
“We’re about evenly split between business and fans as clients, and there’s upside in both areas,” Collins said. “Our idea is to put a singular focus on hospitality and grow it from there.”
