Spotlight’s weekly collection of relevant press, tweets, and blogs shaping the world of corporate ticketing. The evolution of Corporate America’s involvement in sports is leading towards more responsibility and better analytics. Please read on for more information about sports sponsorship, sports business, ticket management, corporate accountability, and The Spotlight Ticket Management Solution.
Yokohama shows confidence in NFL Sports Marketing
Yokohama Tire Company may not be as well known to Americans as Firestone or Goodyear, but that will all change soon if this Southern California company has anything to say about it. According to an article posted by Modern Tire Dealer, Yokohama has added two more NFL teams to its sports marketing sponsorship program, after recently signing a deal with the Dallas Cowboys. The Denver Broncos and Baltimore Ravens are the latest teams who will be featuring the tire brand with signage around their stadiums, radio advertisements, in-game announcements, LED board displays, and unspecified hospitality opportunities. In addition to these three NFL teams, the Yokohama brand is also on display with the Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, and Los Angeles Angels.
Yokohama company officials have made it quite obvious what their goals are with their sports marking program, stating quite simply “As with the Cowboys program, the sponsorship of the Broncos and Ravens is designed to generate store foot traffic and sales for Yokohama dealers.” Clearly they recognize the value of sports marketing and appear to be expanding this division of their business model, but once a business strategy is in place there must also be a system to record and justify this spend. It will be very interesting to see what kind of metrics Yokohama uses to track the effectiveness of these partnership deals including, of course, the NFL tickets that come along with it.
Herbalife Continues Global Exposure with New Sports Sponsorships
Herbalife Ltd., along with its independent distributors, already sponsor about 150 athletes, fitness and sporting events around the world including soccer giants FC Barcelona and LA Galaxy. According to a press release posted on Market Watch, Herbalife is expanding their exposure by announcing three new sponsorships in various sports arenas around the world. First is a partnership with top Israeli football club, Maccabi Haifa FC, as the official sponsor for sports nutrition. Herbalife will see their brand added to the team’s training kit shorts, around the stadium and training facilities, the team bus, and additional exposure through the team’s official media channels. The company also signed India’s four-time world boxing champion, MC Mary Kom, which could prove to be an especially lucrative deal as she is tipped as one of the top medal contenders in the 2012 London Olympics. The final sponsorship announcement was a contract extension with Saina Nehwal, the current #3 ranked badminton player in the world.
Sports marketing provides an excellent platform for global brand exposure when used correctly, which is clearly demonstrated by Herbalife. Though they have a particular niche being involved in the nutrition and health-lifestyle industries already, strategic planning is evident as they target a mix of world-renowned teams as well as top regional athletes that not only make them a globally appealing brand but also provide exposure throughout all of the top sports around the world. Obviously every company looking to increase exposure of their brand through sports marketing will not have the resources to reach out to a global market right from the start, but Herbalife proves that it may be wise to think outside the box when it comes to spending sponsorship dollars. With ticket management software like Spotlight TMS available to corporations these days, data illustrating the return on investment of less-traditional sponsorships is instantly available to prove their worth. Sometimes it’s worth taking the road less traveled.
Foxwoods Resort Casino has seen the benefits of Sports Marketing…So Where’s the Proof?
Robert Victoria, Chief Marketing Officer for Foxwoods Resort Casinos, is a firm believer in the benefits of utilizing sports marketing to introduce his brand to new consumers. Foxwoods already has several marketing deals with professional teams in Boston, New York, and New Jersey. In a recent Q&A with the Norwich Bulletin, the first question posed to him bluntly asked, “Is the casino seeing an impact from those sports marketing agreements?” To which he replied, “They’ve generated very positive feedback. The most popular seems to be the (WNBA) Liberty deal. I’ve gotten hundreds of notes on that one alone. It’s helping us build up our database of customers in western Connecticut and New York.”
Notes. It’s always nice to hear positive feedback from clients who enjoyed attending an event or hear that consumers saw your logo on an arena or jersey, but notes alone are not enough to prove to investors and prospective business partners that a company’s marketing spend is being used effectively. How much profit was made on each investment? Did the deal come through with the clients who were brought to the last game? Where’s the documentation for the IRS that the ‘unused’ tickets actually went unused and are a proper write off? Mr. Victoria is absolutely right – sports marketing is an incredibly beneficial tool to bring more exposure to your brand – but after the economic recession companies are more liable than ever for every dime spent and must assume the responsibility to prove to partners and consumers that every sponsorship is beneficial to their business’s growth and success. This is exactly that drives the need for ticket management systems like Spotlight TMS.
Relevant Sports Business & Sports Ticket Management Tweets Of The Week
RT @SBJSBD Discover Card Expected To Be New Title Sponsor Of Orange Bowl. http://su.pr/1XQ8SK
PGA Championships corporate spending down 15% while firms buying are called into question. Same story- same solution: http://su.pr/3CsiaQ
RT @SBJSBD Seven new sponsors announced today for Louisville’s KFC Yum Center. http://su.pr/925yF9
OKC Thunder announce sponsor expansion with Love’s and Hertz Corp: http://su.pr/1BrVzG
RT@SportsMoneyBlog Yankees President Randy Levine expanding the team’s business model. http://su.pr/2ocro0 Forbes SportsMoney
Yokohama announces intent to sponsor more NFL teams expanding partner teams by two: http://su.pr/1lhrRA
Interesing insights from each of the Atlanta pro sports franchises on pricing and attendance during a recession: http://su.pr/AacbK7
Not pretty news for the New York Giants: SBJSBD NY Giants selling single-game tickets without PSLs through Ticketmaster. http://su.pr/2JQ
NY Giants backtracking on “sell out” and “psl” claims: http://su.pr/30R3sK
More on Yokohama Tires expanding sports marketing portfolio with NFL during a recession: http://su.pr/22VXJu
RT @SportsMoneyBlog Tennis players, led by Maria Sharapova, rule as the top-paid women in sports. http://su.pr/2JtyO3
Consol Energy Center opened to rave reviews last night with a Paul McCartney performance: http://su.pr/2gk6qG
RT @sponsorpitch Arena Football League signs NAPA Auto Parts to low-six figure title #sponsorship for #AFL champ game http://su.pr/1QbiMD
Herbalife continues dramatic push into sports marketing- this time with a global focus by the LA based firm: http://su.pr/1SU1Sd
Has Texas passed Notre Dame as the most powerful college football program? http://su.pr/1L9V5B
Foxwoods CMO drops ball on opportunity to highlight sports marketing benefits. How do you track effectiveness? “Notes”? http://su.pr/4HGbAu
RT @darrenrovell1 Pittsburgh Pirates make a boatload of gold by not spending money http://su.pr/1AVlVr As fans, should we hate them?
