"New Era Plots Aggressive Five-Year Growth Plan"

From SGB Weekly: http://www.sportsonesource.com/news/weekly/sgbweekly/archive/sgbw_1110lo.pdf

Review by Mason Bryan in KIN 435

Thomas J. Ryan’s article, “New Era Plots Aggressive Five-Year Growth Plan,” was a very interesting read that provided insight into the world of marketing and sales. Although the article included points regarding New Era’s sponsorship of the NFL in the 2012 season, I was disappointed with the lack of details about the sponsorship itself. New Era became one of the five official “on-field” sponsors of the National Football League (joining Gatorade, Canon, Nike, and Motorola), yet nothing regarding the price of the deal or the length of the contract is mentioned in the article and I believe that those are key points into educating the reader about the business of sports sponsorship.

Other than the fact that the details of the NFL deal aren’t made known, the article provided a great amount of detail into the world of marketing and sales for an up and coming company in the sports industry. New Era, as many already know, is the official on field cap of Major League Baseball. With annual sales of $500 million, the company is seeking new ways to double their sales by 2015. By doing so they have not only sponsored the NFL and become their official on field cap, but have done the same for the Canadian Football League, and have become the title sponsor of the Pinstripe Bowl, an annual college football bowl game played at Yankee Stadium. The company has also started a women’s apparel line and began their “Fly Your Own Flag” campaign in hopes of reaching new markets. Through the use of marketing and sponsorship, New Era is making its product(s) known to the public on a much larger scale and, in my opinion, will have no troubles doubling their sales within a five-year span.

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Review by Courtney Gannon in KIN 435

“New Era Plots Aggressive Five-year Growth Plan”, written by Thomas J. Ryan, discusses a recent change in the New Era Company and current plans to further expand the company. New Era recently became the NFL’s official on-field headwear licensee. New Era, along with Nike, Gatorade, Canon, and Motorola is a brand that will have exclusive sideline rights starting in the 2012 season. Along with the licensing agreement with NFL, New Era signed a three-year agreement to be the official headwear sponsor of the Canadian Football League. The company has become focused on expanding sales to 1 billion dollars annually within five years. As part of the five-year plan, New Era has had two acquisitions to help further the growth of the company. It acquired 5th and Ocean, a women’s apparel company and MARC4, one of Brazil’s fashion brand management companies. In the “New Era Plots Five-year Growth Plan” article, Chris Koch, CEO of New Era, referred to acquisitions by stating, “It’s definitely part of our growth strategy.” Acquisitions are a large part of the 5-year growth plan and will continue to be used in aiding the expansion of the company. Lastly, “Fly Your Own Flag,” is a campaign that aims to express individuality and show that New Era produces hats that can be used for all types of people and reasons. It consists of print and social media, as well as ambassadors from different industries. New Era wants to reach the 1 billion dollar goal by 2015 and hope to expand into all of the major cities around the world.

The sales and marketing used by New Era have made it possible for the company to become as big as it has and continue to expand. Since New Era focuses on different markets other than sports, it has the ability to expand and have customers from a variety of markets. Also, by becoming the official headwear licensee of NFL, New Era can almost double its market because now there are buyers from both the NFL and the MLB. Acquiring 5th and Ocean and MARC4 has also helped increase sales not only domestically, but internationally as well. New Era is not only focused in one specific market in a certain part of the world, which is beneficial to getting closer to the ultimate goal. Becoming the official licensee of headwear for the NFL, acquiring 5th and Ocean and MARC4, and focusing on markets other than sports, has and will continue to play a crucial role in becoming closer to obtaining the 1 billion dollar status.