LAST WEEK TODAY: BACK TO NORMAL

MISSING SPONSORSHIP NEWS?

Check out the blog every Monday for a weekly roundup of the past week's most exciting and industry-altering news. These stories cover January 8-13, 2019.

We're getting back into the swing of things - plenty of exciting sponsorship (and other!) announcements over the past week. In sports news, the Australian Open has started with former World #1 Andy Murray in perhaps his last appearance before retirement. Besides his Grand Slam wins, Murray is also known to be an outspoken supporter of equal rights. A bit closer to home, a new naming rights deal was announced, as well as a few other major partnerships worldwide.

1. As almost always, we saw a couple new deals in soccer over the past seven days, both in Europe:
   • First in France: Konami Digital Entertainment signs on to Ligue 1's Coupe de la Ligue BKT. The deal was signed a day before that tournament's quarter-finals, and includes branding on participating club jerseys.
   • Meanwhile in England, Leicester City has signed an Official Waste Partner. Perhaps not one of the most in-demand categories for a team to fill, but will allow the brand (Bakers Waste) and the team to partner on a 'Pass on Plastic' initiative.
2. Also in the UK, SportBusiness is following the potential hurdles and/or fallout to the country's sport sponsorship industry following Brexit.
3. Experiential marketing and successful branding made the news as well:
   • You may have noticed the Golden Globes last Monday. Turns out Walmart debuted a very buzzed-about commercial during the broadcast with a movie ti-in. Several movie-ties, in fact, as the commercial 'Famous Cars' featured several well-known movie cars - think the Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo, the Batmobile, brand-new Bumblebee, and others.
   • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGrSw7wK4no
   • Also buzzed about: Netflix' Black Mirror Bandersnatch. UK consumers, in addition to actually directing their own movie experience, were able to take part in pop ups featuring one of the movie locations.
4. Olympics TOP sponsors Alibaba and intel are working together on an AI-driven athlete tracking tool. Not sure about you, but one of our favorite parts of the Olympic broadcasts and subsequent social promotion are how the athletes do what they do (and how one is better than the other). Looking forward to seeing this debut.
5. We mentioned major sponsorship deals up above. One is a title sponsorship deal (you know that includes plenty of $$$$) and one is a presenting sponsor contract (we'll rate this at a $$$-level).
   • Tandem's hometown San Francisco Giants will no longer be playing at AT&T Park as the naming rights have been sold to Oracle. While Oracle Park doesn't have quite the same ring to it (yet?), it's a good move for Oracle as the company's other Bay Area eponymous venue (Oracle Arena) faces an uncertain future.
   • In esports (and you thought you'd get to go a week without us mentioning this segment!), Kia will be the presenting sponsor of the 'Player of the Game' segment in league broadcasts, as well as Official Automotive Partner. Auto brands have been jumping on to esports in grounds recently, as Audi signed with LEC team Origen and Mercedes-Benz with China's top professional competition.
6. Two stories in tennis this week (one indicated up top, of course):
   • As we mentioned above, tennis star Andy Murray has announced his pending retirement. Fans are hoping he'll make it to Wimbledon one last time. He'll also be wearing a new apparel sponsor for his final year: British brand Castore. Murray previously was under contract with Under Armour.
   • Stateside, ATP Masters 1000 and WTA Premier Mandatory tournament Miami Open is preparing for its first year at the Miami Dolphins' Hard Rock Stadium. Organizers are hoping the new set up makes the tournament more accessible to fans (and likely more desirable for sponsors as well).

1. https://twitter.com/MiamiOpen/status/1082710768133566464

Did we miss any? Tweet @be_tandem to let us know - we hate being behind the times just as much as you do.

Look out next Monday for the usual round-up on sponsorship news.