Nemiroff Vodka
Mixed-martial-arts circuit UFC is tapping into the growing spirits market, signing Nemiroff Vodka to a top-level global sponsorship. Industry sources said the pact was for eight figures and will stretch over the remainder of 2018, plus three additional years.
Under the deal, Nemiroff receives camera-visible branding on the canvas and bumpers within the UFC Octagon at all events, beginning with the Sept. 8 card at the American Airlines Center in Dallas.
Other assets include broadcast integrations, global exclusivity in the vodka category, designation as the UFC’s official vodka partner, and rights to use marks on packaging and in promotions, along with digital and social media.
Nemiroff also will be presenting sponsor of the UFC VIP Experience outside the U.S. UFC beer sponsor Modelo holds those rights domestically.
Paul Asencio, UFC senior vice president of global partnerships, said the deal started in the U.K. as an international rights package and grew to a global rights deal, fueled by UFC’s recent ESPN rights deal.
UFC’s deal with the Russian vodka maker comes as liquor sales continue to escalate. Through 2017, spirits sales in America grew for the eighth straight year, reaching a record $26.2 billion, according to the U.S. Distilled Spirits Council, a trade organization. Vodka, which accounts for a third of all spirits sales in the U.S., saw volume increase by 2.2 percent and sales up 3 percent to $6.2 billion in 2017.
With the growth in the spirits market, Asencio said the UFC also is prospecting for deals in tequila, brown liquor and possibly other spirits sectors. UFC has done a small domestic deal with Blackheart Spiced Rum, but only for the remainder of 2018.
