"Pitt, Syracuse to join the Atlantic Coast Conference"

From The Business Journal


Review by Elliot Rosenfeld in KIN 435


The article “University of Pittsburg, Syracuse to Join The ACC,” by Owen Covington discusses the current changes going on in college sports. Syracuse and Pittsburgh have decided to leave the Big East after being members for 30 years in order to ensure some stability. This is the first real move this year towards super conferences and many believe it is going to start a serious domino effect to change all of college sports.

The main reasons for all these changes is money, but more specifically the ACC wanted to expand because it will allow them to renegotiate their TV contract with ESPN that they signed just a year ago. The current deal (12 years, and $1.86 billion dollars) was signed in July in 2010, but the addition of these two high profile teams should allow the ACC to increase that amount substantially. ACC officials are hoping that the new deal will be closer to the deal the PAC-12 just signed (12 years, $3 billion). Each ACC School is currently receiving 11 million dollars but that amount should also rise if a new network deal is agreed upon.

Pittsburg represents the 24th biggest TV market, and Syracuse makes up the 82nd biggest TV market in America. Along with this, Syracuse also has major footholds in New York City, which greatly attracted the ACC. There is some uncertainty when these teams will actually join the ACC however. The Big East requires each team to pay a $5 million dollar exit fee and wait a 27-month period, but the ACC is hopeful that the wait period will be reduced.

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Review by Erika Pearson in KIN 435

In the article, the Atlantic Coast Conference has announced that it has accepted Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburg into the its conference. The departure of Syracuse and Pittsburg from the Big East may cause realignment in the rest of the conference and negatively affect the Big East. According to the Big East bylaws, Big East requires team that leaves to give a 27 month notification and pay a hefty $5 million exit fee. According to the article, the ACC may have more schools interested in joining their conference; another Big East school that is considering moving to the ACC is Connecticut. Even though the big move may put the Big East in danger, the ACC has the opportunity to gain much anticipation for the basketball season as well as gain Madison Square Garden as a site for a basketball tournament.

I believe that the transition of Syracuse and Pittsburg to the ACC will be great opportunity for the conference. The ACC has the chance to expand their networks to New York and Pennsylvania as well as create a great buzz around the conference during the basketball season; the move will also bring money to the conference. However I feel that the future of the Big East is looking very bleak; the lost of two solid teams and possibly Connecticut could cause the conference to lose a lot of money as well as shrink their market and their buzz during basketball season.

"UGG Australia Launches Campaign Targeting Men"

From AllBusiness.com

Review by Brad Harner in KIN 435

UGG Australia, a company originally known for women’s boots, made a bold investment in a new collection of shoes targeted towards men. The company decided they needed growth and the way they were going to go about this was to introduce a new line for men. Along with the risk of starting this new line for men, they also partnered with Tom Brady to market the product to men. The new line of shoes has people talking, especially fans of the NFL. NFL fans are venting about the UGG commercial they saw, featuring Tom Brady, on their televisions during the first Monday Night Football game. UGG strategically bought this time slot because they knew there would be millions of men watching the first Monday Night Football game of the season. The company chose Brady to endorse their new collection of shoes because they believe he is a well liked, popular, athlete that can influence fans into buying the product. Constance X. Rishwain, the president of UGG Australia said, “Working with Tom allows us to celebrate the heritage of UGG and at the same time introduce it to a new generation of modern men like him who appreciate great design paired with the UGG ‘inside’ experience” The commercial attempts to stick with the modern theme of the shoe by getting hip hop artist Mos Def to accompany the “Steps” of the commercial. They came up with a title for the commercial as well to keep it simple and trendy by naming it “Steps”.

            

My opinion of this new collection, introduced by UGG Australia, is that they have done everything they can for the product to catch on. Whether or not this product actually becomes popular is something that we will have to wait and see. Personally, I do not believe NFL fans were the ones to target because most people watching football are not as modern and trendy as Tom Brady.

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Review by Patrick Pelletier in KIN 435

The article I chose to read was titled UGG Australia Launches Campaign Targeting Men, and was published on AllBusiness.com. Opening with a nationally televised commercial during ESPN’s Monday Night Football, UGG Australia will target men using NFL quarterback Tom Brady. UGG has high hopes and expectations for this new campaign, but it will be interesting to see how using an NFL superstar will help accomplish their goal to reach a new market.

UGG Australia’s main goal in partnering with Brady is to increase the popularity of its new men’s collection of footwear. What better way to do that then use arguably one of the most popular players in America’s most popular professional sport. The NFL fan base is a huge area of opportunity for any company and UGG is trying to capitalize on it. President Constance X. Rishwain said in the article that: “launching our men's campaign with TV illustrates the commitment we have to this initiative and to our partnership with Tom Brady." This shows that the company as a whole is dedicated to the success of this campaign. However, it may not be completely up to them.

The audience UGG Australia is trying to reach is going to be very difficult to penetrate. There are going to be a limited number of men watching the NFL that are interested in wearing these boots or that have even heard of the company. In my opinion the campaign overall won’t have a significant impact on the popularity of this collection. There are going to be people that will buy these new shoes because they associate them with Tom Brady. I think that is where most of the new sales will come from. The commercial aired on Monday Night Football will continued to be shown and I think it will have more of an impact on the casual football fan and those that just know who Brady is.

This campaign being attempted by UGG Australia definitely shows their desire to get more men wearing their product. Targeting the NFL is a great way to do this but they will most likely not get the die-hard fans to wear them. However, I think they chose the right player to endorse them because Brady has enough recognition around casual fans and those that aren’t fans to influence what people think about when they make purchasing decisions.

"UPS, MillerCoors go in — and go big — on campus"

From SportsBusiness Journal


Review by Adam Carranza in KIN 332 (Section 2)


The start of the new football season began with both UPS and MillerCoors closing huge marketing deals with collegiate schools all over the country. UPS has almost 70 schools on its list stretching from coast to coast with such powerhouses as Texas, Florida, Ohio State and others. They are also in talks with the Big Ten and Pac-12 about sponsorships detailed to their championship games. MillerCoors is dealing with 23 schools across the country, while trying to promote strong messages about responsibility. This deal is coming after Coors Light lost its official partnership with the NFL, as Anheuser-Busch has taken over this season. While the college scene might be a first for MillerCoors, UPS had already made a deal in 2010 to become an NCAA corporate partner. These big multi-school deals seem to becoming a new trend that could catch on quickly, as opposed to dealing with each school individually.

Both companies are using sports to market their non-sport related product or service. The scale of the UPS deal shows just how important collegiate sports have become compared to the professional levels. This could open the door for other companies to try and complete something this large, because the NCAA has proved a worthy source of marketing over the years. Not only will this help UPS in the marketing game, but it could lead to deals with the schools to become their main shipping source. MillerCoors believes that this is a great addition to their marketing mix as they still have deals with many NFL teams, along with fantasy football and the MLB. Their deal is impressive because in the past schools have been hesitant to have a beer company as one of their main sponsors. They are allowed to put college marks on their point-of-sale advertising, but not on any television advertisements. By expanding their marketing attention these companies could pave the way for bigger and better deals in the future.

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Review by Josh Ruffner in KIN 332 (Section 2)

This article is about how UPS and MillerCoors are teaming up with the NCAA creating large sponsorships. This will be a whole new market for both corporations. UPS came upon terms of agreement with about 70 schools and a few conferences a deal worth $25 million a year. The only other corporation with this widespread sponsorship is State Farm which took them about 25 years to partner up with more than 90 schools. UPS will also shoot to gain sponsorship with some of the championship games this season. MillerCoors deal is with about 23 schools. Their idea is to market their product with responsibility messaging from point of sale with college marks. MillerCoors is reaching out to college football in hopes to fill the void from the loss of the NFL partnership. The deal will be somewhere are the $10 million range annually. MillerCoors will have to be careful promoting on college campuses where beer advertising can be sensitive because of underage drinking. UPS and MillerCoors are two of the biggest when it comes to sports marketing and we will see how they fair this coming season.

I think that this is a good idea for both corporations to dive into a new market. I think MillerCoors is doing a great thing by creating a grant program towards campus programs that create awareness about alcohol responsibility. I think they will do well in collegiate athletics because it is such a broad market as fans are more than just students. These large sponsorships are good for collegiate athletics and large corporations. It is going to allow the corporations to promote their product through a whole new market impacting a lot of viewers.