LAST WEEK TODAY: SPONSORSHIP EXPLOSION

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 April 15-21, 2019.

Do you remember at the beginning of the year when we were struggling for great sponsorship and experiential stories? Not any more! This spring has been full of fun, engaging, and innovative partnerships and activation ideas. This week was no exception, we have everything from an Airdrop stunt by a Coachella headliner to a Netflix series on one of the world's top soccer teams, to a blockbuster Olympic partnership. Try and keep up!

1. Surprising (probably) no one, we've had a lot of activity in the soccer sphere over the last week.
   • We've seen two stories about teams leading the way - not necessarily on the field or in sponsorship - but in brand:
     • AS Roma is making a name for itself on social media. Or, at least as much as a world-renowned team *can* continue to make a name for itself.
     • Thinking even bigger, PSG aims to be the world's coolest sports brand. (Honestly, why stop at "sports brand," and not go for the whole thing?)
   • Manchester City was in the news again this week, this time for the team's deal with Galaxy Entertainment for its EuroJapan Cup.
   • Across the pond, we've got an American deal and an Argentinian spotlight:
     • The MLS and US Soccer have signed on with the Headspace app. Not only app usage applies, there will be clinics with MLS teams, and both the USMNT and USWNT.
     • Down south, the Boca Juniors were featured in last week's #SponsorSpotlight for Netflix. The team partnered with the streaming service in 2017 on a four-part series.
2. While we're talking about Netflix, the service also teamed up with Apple early on in House of Cards' lifetime for some product placement.
3. The ATP Finals have been held at London's O2 Arena since 2009, but apparently no longer after next year's tournament. The ATP favors moving the tournament to Turin. What strategy do you think Turin applied to gain the switch?
4. Experiential is in the news again (does it ever stop? We hope not!)
   • Yesterday marked the end of the second weekend of Coachella 2019. We haven't heard all the deets, but Justin Bieber + Ariana Grande? No way that wouldn't be popular. We do however, have a couple wrap ups from Weekend 1:
     • EventMarketer showed us what some of the biggest brands are doing, including: HP, Heineken, Instagram. Probably to inspire FOMO.
     • Meanwhile, one of the biggest names headlining - Childish Gambino/Donald Glover - used Airdrop to reward some lucky fans.
   • On the retail side, Macy's launched the STORY activation at 36 stores in 15 markets. Have you seen this Instagram-heavy set up?
5. Also reported by Chief Marketer, Carlsberg took those complaints about its beer seriously. And they're aiming to let you know they heard your less-than-polite descriptions and are working to improve.
6. This last one will likely see a lot of $$$ in the future: NBCUniversal and LA2028 have teamed up to offer sponsorship and advertising packages that may cover all 4 Olympic Games between 2022-2028 in Beijing (Winter '22), Paris (Summer '24), Stockholm-Åre or Milan-Cortina (Winter '26), and LA (Summer '28).

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.