CAA Sports has won a three-month-long agency shootout to assist
Tissot with marketing activation of its NBA rights deal, a major investment by the company approaching its second year.
This season, Tissot’s brand will be on the 24-second shot clocks at every NBA arena, an enhancement tested during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas (see photo). Generating awareness for that new asset and enhancing Tissot’s reputation as an exacting timekeeper will be principal among CAA’s assignments.
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The Tissot brand was tested on shot clocks in Las Vegas.
Photo by: NBAE / GETTY IMAGES
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With on-court evidence of Tissot’s status as the NBA’s official timekeeper, we’re eager to see how the Swatch-owned brand will leverage what company officials have acknowledged is their most expensive sports sponsorship to date.
Tissot has supporting club sponsorships with the Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks and San Antonio Spurs, and team sources said they are looking to expand that collection.
Greg Luckman, CAA Sports Consulting’s global head, confirmed that his shop had won the agency pitch but would not comment further. Sources said Octagon was the other finalist in an agency review that began a few months back and originally comprised “all the usual suspects,” including WME-IMG and Wasserman.
> FLYING HIGH: Delta has signed on as the first of what the new LAFC MLS team hopes will be around 11 seven-figure, annual founding-level “golden-boot” sponsors for the team’s inaugural season in 2018. The deal includes signage, category exclusivity, unique content and experiences for Delta frequent fliers, as well as community activation efforts. Delta also will leverage its Aeromexico brand with its new LAFC rights.
LAFC President and co-owner Tom Penn said Delta will launch a supporting ad campaign later this year. He noted the team’s new logo, which includes a wing, is a nice connection to the Delta brand.
It also doesn’t hurt that Delta is doing a $2 billion renovation project at LAX. “We’re both about what’s going to be,” Penn said.
Banc of California earlier signed on as the naming-rights partner for LAFC’s $350 million stadium being built on the site of the old L.A. Sports Arena.
Legends is assisting with the sales process. LAFC has five in-house sales employees, with the Legends team embedded as necessary.
Penn said he hoped to have the team’s downtown L.A. sales center opened in November. Meanwhile, Legends is actively in the market selling.
“We’re focused on our training center and our kit sponsorship, along with the obvious categories for our founding partners,” said Legends president and COO Shervin Mirhashemi.
> COMINGS & GOINGS: Sponsorship marketer Tim McGhee has joined CSE as a senior vice president, reporting to CSE President Doug Manning. McGhee will be based in New York City, with an eye toward growing the Atlanta-based shop’s profile there. McGhee’s résumé includes two stops at IMG and four years at Cingular/AT&T, where he was executive director of global sponsorship. … CSM continues to shuffle personnel in the U.S., adding veteran sports marketer Rob McQueen as president, North America. McQueen will report to CSM North America CEO Jeff Shifrin, hired in July. McQueen, who will head CSM’s North American consulting practice, was most recently president of Jack Morton Worldwide, and worked for Momentum Worldwide for 10 years. … Former Upper Deck and Fotoball marketer Jon Schneider moves to Underground Toys, San Diego, as director of sales. The company has licenses from “Star Wars,” “Doctor Who,” “Game of Thrones,” “Peppa Pig” and “Ghostbusters.” … Former NFL sponsorship director Peter LaPointe joins MasterCard’s Advisors group as sports and entertainment vertical lead for the payment card’s professional services/analytics group. LaPointe was senior vice president of partnership marketing and sales for the Harlem Globetrotters.
Terry Lefton can be reached at tlefton@sportsbusinessjournal.com.
