LAST WEEK TODAY: NEW NAMES, NEW NORMS
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 14-28, 2019, because 1) last Monday was MLK Day (we hope you all took a minute to think about what they day was truly about); and 2) our entire team was attending a conference in Reno, Nevada.
To make it up for you, we've made sure to not only add our most popular stories from last week, but from the entire time period. They're wide ranging, and some are in high-demand and high-value categories. We'll be watching a few - like Volkswagen/U.S. Soccer and the Brewers/AmFam - closely going forward. Quick question: how long does it take you personally to get used to venue name changes? With a few announced in the past few weeks (like SF Giants and AT&T/Oracle or the Milwaukee Brewers and Miller/American Family Insurance), it seems we have a few new names to remember. Is it easier to remember when it's a new venue than when an existing venue changes its naming rights partner?
- Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was plenty of soccer news in the past two weeks, with a few particularly exciting tidbits:
- U.S. Soccer Federation partnered with Volkswagen on a deal that covers its Women's, Men's, and Youth National Teams. Timing is on point as the USWNT aim to win the upcoming World Cup in France. Also notable is the difference in auto brand than that of the USOC (Toyota) - something to keep an eye on, as Toyota has been aiming to scoop up promising properties on the USA NGB scene in the run up to next year's Tokyo Games.
- On the professional side, we saw two MLS jersey deals come through:
- In Chicago, the Fire have partnered with electronics brand Motorola for its jersey sponsorship.
- While in Seattle, the Sounders stayed home-grown with its partnership with online retailer zulily.
- We found a cause marketing campaign from last year we're hoping will repeat: Lacoste debuted its "Save Our Species" campaign at last year's Paris Fashion Week, changing its iconic crocodile logo to differing endangered species on various items - which sold out (like having soccer news in a LWT, we're unsurprised).
- Bike New Haven has found a new sponsor in AVANGRID. We're not going to lie, we love partnerships like these - we only have to look out our San Francisco windows to see the Ford Go Bikes and its Alaska Airlines partnership to understand the kind of visibility they're seeing.
- You know we publish our own blogs here at Tandem (you're even reading one right now!), but we also like to take a peek at what other industry professionals are serving up. We found a great one on LOGOGRAB: Sports Sponsorship Trends for 2019.
- In the US, we're sure you're familiar with the Big 4 leagues: NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL. We found a few particularly interesting stories from these leagues during these past two weeks:
- Super Bowl LIII is coming up this weekend, and while you won't see this player on the field, he has taken the NFL by storm this season. The Kansas City Chiefs' Patrick Mahomes' marketing plan was showcased by the Bristol Herald Courier.
- We have another name change in the MLB coming up, this time in the Midwest. Depriving us of perhaps the most in-line stadium name with a team mascot, the Milwaukee Brewers will not be playing at Miller Field past 2020. Instead, the team will play at an as-yet-unnamed field with the naming rights held by American Family Insurance.
- Just down south, the Dallas Stars' Frisco, Texas campus naming rights will remain with Comerica as the financial services company expands and extends its relationship with the team.
- Another (two) week(s), another esports story, this time from The Drum: "Four reasons why gaming should be a key channel for all media buyers"
- We can't make it through our list without at least one experiential marketing story, and we've found a great one: massive makeup convention Beautycon is here to talk you through the benefits of pop up space. Can it get better?
- Two Tandem stalwarts were popular over the past two weeks as well:
- This story, from our 1/24 #SponsorSpotlight on Chick-fil-A's Army-Navy game activation.
- And lastly, our own "Sponsorship vs. Endorsement" blog from last Thursday. Questions? Check it out.
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.