Sponsorship Essentials: March Madness Edition!

By: Claire Lingley 

It’s March and that means one thing: March Madness baby!  Not only is this an exciting time for the 64 teams vying for their spot as champion, but corporations and companies are also vying for the top spot in sponsorship.  Given that the 2017 NCAA March Madness tournament was the most watched in 24 years, paired with record-setting digital consumption, this competition for sponsorship means more than ever.  It may be only the beginning, but here are our Final Four predictions for the 2018 NCAA’s March Madness Tournament: Sponsorship Edition.

Capital One, AT&T, and Coca-Cola:  As the three top tier corporate sponsors, aptly named the “Champion” sponsors, March Madness viewers will see hundreds upon hundreds of their commercials throughout this tournament (my personal favourite featured here, can't go wrong with Samuel L Jackson crooning on your TV), paired with their name and logo branded throughout week.  From “Capital One’s NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge”  to Coca Cola’s  “Sip. Scan. Score. Your way to March Madness” it is no question that these corporations will stand at the forefront of March Madness sponsorships. 

Nike:  This year, 44 of the 64 teams will be decked out in head-to-toe Nike branded uniforms. If my calculations are correct, the chances that the actual Final Four and furthermore, the crowning champ themselves, will be showing off that swoosh is looking pretty good!

Google Cloud:  Now known as “The Official Cloud of the NCAA”.  The end of last year saw the formation of an exciting new multi-year partnership between Google Cloud and the NCAA; NCAA’s 80+ years of historical and play-by-play-data, from 90 championships and 24 sports, is now being held and run on the Google Cloud Platform.  This is a big deal for colleges and universities, athletic teams, and fan bases alike, as they now have access to this data in ways unlike ever before. With an estimated 40 million Americans filling out brackets, and probably most* of them doing so using some sort of data and analytics, it is no surprise that this year’s March Madness will serve as the perfect platform to show off this new partnership.

Buick:  As a long time partner of the NCAA for quite some time now, Buick is stepping up its game when it comes to this year’s March Madness tournament. Not only will it offer it’s vehicle owners a free month of its AT&T-provided embedded 4G LTE data, allowing fans to access both the men’s and women’s championship games throughout the tournament, but it is also showcasing a new special NCAA Tournament app where Buick owners can listen to live audio feeds from various games playing throughout the month. 

With sponsorship spending on college athletics excepted to reach a total of $1.24 billion in the 2017-2018 season, a 4.5% increase over 2017, and the overall sports sponsor spend in 2018 expected to rise 4.9% versus last year, the sponsorship industry shows no sign of slowing down.  And while we seem to be seeing the same companies and corporations over and over dominating sponsorships in the big tournaments, just as every one knows in March Madness, you can never rule out the underdogs: case in point, UMBC defeating number one seed Virginia this weekend.

Hope everyone enjoys this year’s March Madness! I’ll be joining what I’m sure are the hundreds of thousands of people who saw their chances of winning their own office’s March Madness Bracket Challenge going down the drain with Virginia’s loss. Here's looking at next year to clench that win! 

Sponsorship Essentials: Featured Deal of the Week

By: Claire Lingley 

             The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is no longer! Instead, say hello to the United Airlines Memorial Coliseum, coming in August 2019.  In late January, the University of Southern California announced the exciting and unprecedented deal: United Airlines purchased the Naming Rights to the Coliseum for $69 million over 16 years.

             This deal is important for two reasons.  Firstly, the LA Memorial Coliseum is one of the sports world’s most beloved historic landmarks.  Built in 1921, it was originally commissioned as a memorial to WWI Veterans, and in 1923, the USC Trojans played, and won, their first game against Pomona College. It is an iconoclast structure, and LA embraces it as a part of its history and culture.  When it comes to naming rights, a structure with such history and such rich cultural relevance can be a challenge. Not only does USC have to ensure that this deal is right for their community, but it has the opinion of the entire city of LA, as well as arguably the entire sports world, to contend with. Let’s be honest, some people simply don’t like change, and this is a big one.

            Secondly, this is a big deal.  And I mean big as in, largest in college sports history.  At $69 million, this naming rights deal supports the stadium’s $270 million upgrade that is due to happen ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics, hosted by LA.  That money will go a long way for these renovations, and USC is adamant that the changes will continue to honour the Coliseum’s original architectural integrity, (while also providing the customer with the most elevated experience possible). Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, a member of the Coliseum Commission, says, "Through this restoration project, USC continues to demonstrate its responsible stewardship of the stadium. With support from United Airlines, USC is ushering in a modern era for this historic landmark and preserving its legacy for generations to come”. 

            This may be the first deal of this magnitude within the collegiate sports world, but it is certainly not the last. Here at BWA we want to know what you think.

·      What’s the best way for United Airlines to activate on this partnership and enhance their customer experience?

·      Do customers just need to learn to accept change, and stop with the complaining?  Or should properties respect the history that comes with them?

·      How can properties and companies, like USC and United Airlines in this case, work together in order to persuade the public that this partnership is beneficial for the students, the alumni, and the community as a whole?

·      Does this affect your opinion of United Airlines and/or USC and the Coliseum?

Comment below, or email us at lingley.claire@bonhamwills.com to get your thoughts published on our website!

Sponsorship Essentials Part 4: Q&A With Donna Wittmann, Leading Technology Executive

By: Claire Lingley

With over 25 years of global experience, Donna Wittmann is one of the leading technology executives within the industry.  In this week’s edition of “Sponsorship Essentials,” she speaks towards how technology is transforming the ways in which the sports industry operates, and the challenges that come with that. We also touch on how she got to where she is today, an accomplishment we could pick up tips from!

Q:  You have had extensive experience throughout the marketing world, working with companies Xerox, Dell, Cisco, Tennis Canada, etc., how did you get into this business?

A:  Truthfully, in a bit of a round-about way.  I spent most of my early career in the technology sector, in sales and marketing roles, and a lot of partnership and alliance roles as well.  When I was at Cisco, I did a sponsorship deal with Tennis Canada and the Rogers Cup to bring technology in to enhance the fan experience within the Rogers Cup.  While making that connection, I heard that they had a Chief Marketing Officer Role available at Tennis Canada. Having been a Division I tennis player and a passionate player and fan my whole life, I rang up the CEO and said, “I think that’s my dream job”.  After a lengthy interview process, I convinced them that my passion for tennis and my skills that I had as a VP of sales and marketing within the technology sector could easily be transferred to sports, and marrying up the two would be a perfect combination.  Luckily, they agreed!

Q:  What tips do you have for someone trying to enter this business, specifically as a woman?

“If you’re passionate about the industry that you’re working in, you’re going to be a lot more effective.”

A:  One of my tips would be that you don’t necessarily have to have gotten into sports right out of school, that skill sets from other industries can be transferrable into sports, so don’t necessarily rule yourself out because you didn’t start in the industry. I’m a big believer that you should follow your passion. So if you’re passionate about the industry that you’re working in, you’re going to be a lot more effective and it’s not going to seem like work to you.  So that’s the ultimate thing you should be striving for in your life.

Q:  What skills do you value most, and have made you the most valuable to a company?

A:  I think that one of the things that has made me the most valuable is that I had the opportunity early on in my career to be in a lot of different functional areas. I had roles in sales, in marketing, in finance, in pricing, in partnerships, in different geographical areas and in different countries, I had roles in the US and Canada, Western Europe. I think that having a broad spectrum of what you have had experienced in your career just lets you look at any situation and be able to have experiences to bring to bear and be able to problem solve more effectively.  In terms of advice, especially early in your career, the more breadth of experience you can get, the more different types of experiences you can get, the better off you will be later on in your career.

Q:  Where do you see technology going, specifically in the marketing world, any inside scoops on the next way you see technology transforming the marketing world?

“ I think every sport venue is asking the question, “How do I increase revenues via sponsorship? How do I enhance the fan experience?” And technology plays a huge role in answering that.”

A:  Digital transformation is happening in every industry, especially from a sports perspective, which is an area I’m passionate about.  You can see it happening particularly in digital signage, you can make instant purchases from your phones, all types of things.  I think every sport venue is asking the question, “How do I increase revenues via sponsorship? How do I enhance the fan experience?” And technology plays a huge role in answering that. Everybody wants to be more engaged from their phones.  While I was at Aussie Open this year, for example, I put up a hashtag one minute with a picture we took of ourselves, and two minutes later it was up on the big board in Rod Laver Arena.  It’s just amazing.  That obviously enhanced our fan experience.  All the people working in sports are trying to leverage technology to make an impact, and technology literally is playing a big role within every business today in terms of companies reinventing themselves to be more competitive, and in figuring out how to reach their customers more intimately.  Ultimately, companies want and need to leverage technology for good within their industry.

Q:  What sort of challenges do you see coming with that now that it’s a part of every single person’s life so much?

A:  Obviously there are privacy concerns and security concerns, and companies are addressing them as they embrace the technology to give their customers a better experience and increase revenue, but those companies don’t necessarily have a choice. It is inevitable.  It’s coming whether we like it or not, but there is so much more positive that can come from technology if we embrace it. I think one of the challenges is that people are intimidated by it.  They think, “I’m not a technology person, so I don’t understand it” and so they shy away from it, versus, just understanding from a real practical and business sense what it can do for them. And that’s why I am in that business.  I want to help people understand what technology is in their own terms for their own industry and what it means for them and what the positive benefits are.  You don’t have to understand how it works to understand what it does.

Q:  What is the accomplishment you are most proud of to date?

A:  Throughout my life, there are three accomplishments that stand out.  First, making the Penn State tennis team as a walk-on, second, becoming the youngest female Vice-President at Xerox, and third, making the leap to work in sports as the Chief Marketing Officer at Tennis Canada.  All three accomplishments reinforced that I could overcome the odds by taking risks and going after something I really wanted.  

Q:  What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

“It is the people that push beyond one or two “No’s” to get a “Yes” for what they want to do that are the ones that are successful.

”

A:  I think the best piece of advice is to not take no for an answer when you are going for something that you really want. There are always people that are going to tell you no and stand in your way.  It is the people that push beyond one or two "No’s" to get a "Yes" for what they want to do that are the ones that are successful.

If you could have dinner with 1 person, dead or alive, who would it be?

I would have dinner with Oprah Winfrey. I think what she has done throughout her life is just remarkable and exceptional, and she always seems to take an “I can do anything” approach to life.  She has a super positive attitude and has a way of inspiring others to take that same approach.