M
omentum Worldwide has won a global agency shootout to assist the English Premier League in growing its popularity and businesses in markets including China, India and the U.S. The
IPG-owned agency bested agencies including
Octagon,
WME-IMG,
Wasserman and
Leo Burnett to cop agency of record status with the EPL, along with a three-year contract with the world’s top soccer league.
“Broadly, our assignment is to build awareness and drive the value globally of the Premier League, which will drive all of their businesses,” Momentum CEO Chris Weil said. “And for us, along with winning SAP earlier, it’s really a validation of our global capabilities.”
Weil said the agency hopes to have initial work out in India this fall. The assignment will include digital/social and experiential efforts.
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Peyton Manning may look relaxed, but TV ads for DirecTV (shown here) and others are keeping the former QB busy.
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> MANNING UP: During his first year of retirement, you’ll see as much
Peyton Manning as ever on Sundays — it will just be between the game action. Manning will have national ads from five brands this fall. His three new ads for
DirecTV — an association that dates back 17 years — have been running for some time. NFL sponsors
Nationwide and
Papa John’s Pizza (for which Manning is an owner of some franchises in and around Denver) are also using him as a brand ambassador in creative that will change monthly, while insurer Nationwide will be linking Manning to retirement products.
Gatorade will continue to use him in its campaigns.
Newest to the fold is NFL licensee and Denver Broncos corporate sponsor OtterBox, a Fort Collins, Colo.-based marketer of cellphone cases and other electronic accessories. OtterBox shot new ads at its headquarters last month for a TV and digital brand campaign with protection as a central theme.
“He’s not slowing down as far as corporate marketing support,” said Alan Zucker of Excel Sports Management, Manning’s longtime marketing agent. As for Manning’s long-rumored entree to broadcasting? “There are a lot of opportunities in front of him,” was all Zucker would say.
> COMMUNITY CREDIT: Just after it announced a deal for naming rights to LAFC’s $350 million stadium being built on the site of the Los Angeles Sports Arena, Banc of California has signed a three-year deal as the Los Angeles Rams’ latest sponsor, one of the team’s 10 “homecoming partners,” which represent the relocated NFL squad’s largest corporate patrons during its return to L.A. Since the deal is fashioned as a community initiative, it is not category exclusive, and Banc of California is now the official bank of the Los Angeles Rams Foundation.
Community efforts are paramount in the deal. The bank will be presenting sponsor for the Rams Kickoff for Charity Luncheon benefit this week. The Rams Foundation and the bank will team for financial literacy programs targeting children and young adults in L.A., where it has about 40 branches. The deal includes player appearances, a VIP tent at training camp, and a 30-person “patio suite” at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, adjacent to the press box, with exterior signage.
“There’s some marketing and branding to this, but this is really less about selling products and more about building out our community development efforts,” said Banc of California President and CEO Steve Sugarman.
The bank’s other sports sponsorships in the market include deals with USC and the LA 2024 Olympic bid committee, for which BOC is the bank.
Nobody is confusing Banc of California with banking titans like Wells Fargo, Chase and others that have naming-rights deals, but … “Sports have really driven results for us,” Sugarman said.
The two deals involved different processes and people, though Legends sells for both LAFC and the Rams. “The connection here [between the Rams and LAFC deals] really is that we want to have outreach to all of the diverse communities where we operate,” Sugarman said.
Other early Rams homecoming partner sponsors include Corona, Albertsons, Vivid Seats, American Airlines and Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
