Seven World Series have bled into November, and now we’ve gotten perilously close to the NBA and NHL playing their championships close to July. Still, if anyone thinks those indoor pro seasons will be curtailed anytime soon, I’ve got a formula for New co*ke that you may have interest in purchasing.
WORDS OF WISDOM: "Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world." -- Albert Einstein
Since Sleep Number signed on as an NFL corporate sponsor in 2018, the company says it has convinced more than 80% of NFL players to use its high-end mattresses.
Those at Rams training camp next month won’t have to make a choice: The team is installing 150 Sleep Number "smart beds" beds at the Loyola Marymount training camp site. Call it "The Rams Sleep In," or maybe "The Big Sleep"?
It’s the latest execution in a three-year-old Rams sponsorship with Sleep Number, aided by the fact that more that more than 90% of the team already uses their smart beds. Considering the beds retail upward of $1,000 and can range to more than $10,000, this is not an inconsequential expense.
"[The Rams] understand the importance and impact of sleep on player performance," said Patrick Campion, Sleep Number's VP/marketing, planning and brand partnerships. "By taking the next step to provide their players and coaching staff with 150 Sleep Number smart beds at training camp, they’re committing to support player health during a critical time."
Sleep Number’s other NFL team deals are with the Cowboys, Chiefs and Vikings.
Rams players like QB Matthew Stafford will have Sleep Number smart beds during training camp
Genesco Sports Enterprises has quietly won the sponsorship agency of record business for Applebee’s. The casual dining chain, which has 1,536 U.S. locations, signed an NFL sponsorship in April designating it as the league’s first "official grill and bar."
Activation plans are in development. Applebee’s sponsorship of NBC’s “Football Night in America," which dates back to 2019 (via IPG’s Initiative media agency), is expected to continue. NFL team sources tell me Applebee's has already cut supporting club deals with the 49ers, Lions, Eagles.
Sources add that creative shop Grey Advertising has shot ads with players like Eagles RB Saquon Barkley and 49ers QB Brock Purdy. Of note is that within Applebee’s U.S. locations is the presence of fellow NFL corporate sponsors Diageo, Pepsi and Anheuser-Busch InBev.
Applebee’s could use some marketing lift from the NFL. Sales across the restaurant industry have slipped recently in reaction to consumer inflation concerns. Same-store sales for Applebee’s have declined for four consecutive quarters, including a 4.4% dip in the first quarter of 2024.
Other Genesco NFL sponsor clients are A-B InBev, Campbell Soup, Frito-Lay, Little Caesars, Lowe’s, Pepsi and Sleep Number.
Salty-snack marketer Wise Foods is moving in on Brooklyn fans with a sponsorship pact that includes rights for the Nets, WNBA's N.Y. Liberty and Barclays Center.
The three-year deal marks a return for Wise to Larry Rothstein’s Source Communications, where the snack maker did business more than a decade ago. For now, marketing support will start with the Liberty and be focused on Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island .
The pact includes Nets and Liberty indicia on packaging, point of sale and possible player involvement.
Steve McKelvey, professor of sport management at UMass'Mark H. McCormack Department of Sport Management,reminded me that today is the 25th anniversary of the first game in Century 21’s memorable "Turn Ahead the Clock" promotion, in which half of MLB teams played games wearing uniforms styled to be 50 years in the future.
These days, with sponsor ads on pitching mounds and atop foul lines, the promo seems fairly tame, but it did offend some baseball purists at the time. McKelvey: "I’m comfortable saying it remains one of the most -- if not the most -- audacious leaguewide promotions ever implemented."
That’s more than a reasonable legacy.
One of the "Turn Ahead the Clock" games had Buzz Aldrin throwing out the first pitch and an appearance from June Lockhart ("Lost in Space"), who also sang "Take Me out to the Ballgame."
As for the results? “It was a success in terms of generating incremental attendance and providing a unique platform for local Century 21 brokers and agents to schmooze thousands of valuable clients in key markets, and it differentiated C21 from all the other boring and commodified agencies," said McKelvey, who managed the promotion for PSP Sports Marketing.
It was 25 years ago that Century 21 sponsored a futuristic look at MLB uniforms
- State Farm is again presenting sponsor of the NBA Draft tonight -- one of eight league sponsors with commercial inventory on the ABC/ESPN coverage, along with AmEx, AT&T, DoorDash, Expedia, Meta, New Balance and Pepsi. The insurer also gets in-arena promotion and event signage, and three draftees will post a tune-in asset on their Instagram stories.
- USA Swimming CEO Tim Hinchey said that between cash and value-in-kind, half of the eight sponsors for the recent Olympic Trials were at $250,000 and the other four were above $100,000 -- a step forward as trials had not sold that kind of sponsorship before, notes SBJ's Rachel Axon.
- Navigate President Jeff Nelson tells SBJ's Ben Portnoy thatnaming rights for a conference like the Big 12 could cost anywhere from $30 million-$60 million per year depending on a variety of factors. "The most influential are how much inventory is included in the total naming-rights package and whether there are multiple bidders," said Nelson.
- Major League Pickleball has a multiyear sponsorship agreement that will make Advil the exclusive pain reliever of the team-based league through 2025, reports SBJ's Rob Schaefer.
- P&G brand Tide has released its ad for the upcoming Paris Games, and the 30-second spot -- via Saatchi & Saatchi’s PG One team -- features sprinter Noah Lyles, who won the 100m Sunday at the U.S. Olympic trials, and nine-time gold medalist Carl Lewis, notes SBJ's Trevona Williams.
- Coca-Cola signed an eight-year extension for its sponsorship of the Special Olympics, reports SBJ's Chris Smith.
- In the magazine this week, I looked back at the San Diego Chicken, which became a must-see mascot that was stuffed with marketability, even ending up on a box of Corn Flakes.
