From Forbes.com
Review by Sean Sullivan in SRM 435 (section 2)
I have read numerous articles about Marshawn Lynch and the article by Roger Groves of Forbes was very enlightening. The article discusses the elements of the recent deal between Skittles, Lynch, and the Seattle Seahawks. For fans that follow the National Football League (NFL) they are well aware of the relationship between Lynch and Skittles, but this recent deal could very well revolutionize marketing and promoting products. The article covers basic background of the relationship between all parties, but goes into details of how this deal is first of its kind. The deal is one of the first that will include payment towards a player’s foundation it is also incentive base and will pay the incentives of the player on the behalf of the team; usually the team pays the players incentives. It also allows all three parties to be easily marketable and at a fair cost. Skittles will also design a Seattle Seahawk themed candy leading up to the Super bowl. A summary of the details and benefits of the deal are as follows:
· Skittles: Taps into an established market of Lunch and Seahawks fans. Skittles also saves millions by not having to bid/pay for a Super bowl commercial.
· Lynch: Lynch’s foundations will receive donations and sponsorship from Skittles. Lynch also receives incentives that include every touchdown scored by Lynch he will receive $10,000. This also sets him up for future brands to sign him and to set up a source of revenue after he retires from football; he could become the spokesman for Skittles.
· Seahawks: The Seahawks save money by not having to pay Lynch’s incentives, since Skittles will be paying it for them. They also have their city and franchise marketed through the Seattle Skittles Mix candy pack.
This is a great way to market/promote a product and in a way where each party involved benefits greatly. Seattle saves money and is marketed through Skittles candy across the country, Lynch still receives his incentives, sets himself up nicely for future deals, and his foundations receive generous donations and sponsorship from Skittles. Skittles saves millions and still promotes their product through Lynch and the Seahawks during the most publicized event in the country. Obviously there have been plenty of players and brand deals throughout history of sports, but generally the deals would be a player being paid millions to sign with particular brands; example Lebron James with Nike who will pay him double-digit millions to represent as their spokesman. In this case it is a deal that includes not just the brand and player, but also the team; usually teams fall in the background, not in this case. It is also is interesting how all three parties have worked together in the past. Since 2010 the marriage between Skittles, Lynch, and Seahawks has been outstanding; we will cover this in greater detail when we present. They have worked so well together and this is an example of how important it is to work with brands that you respect and that respect you. This deal also helps Skittles save millions and whenever you can save millions and still market your product at a high level that is a success. We see how all these brands will bid and pay millions, upon millions for a 30 second commercial. Skittles decided to take a different path by paying a much cheaper price through an incentive base contract and donating money towards foundations. They also enhanced their relationship with Lynch and the Seattle Seahawks. Fifteen years ago if you were told to think about Seattle and name the top things to come to your head it would have been rain, coffee, plaid flannel shirts, and Nirvana. Now it is still rain, coffee, Seahawks and Skittles. That is the result of good relations and savvy marketing.
This is relevant to the course because this is just the beginning to future marketing tactics. It already had me coming up with ideas as to how to market products. An idea that came from this was with all the “Omaha” overhyped nonsense, if I was trying to market a product or was in charge of Sales and Marketing with a football organization I am having yearly bids where a company can pay for their product to be one of our teams audible code words. I could easily see a brand paying millions for their product to be Manning, Brady, Rogers, or Brees code word. Imagine Manning instead of saying “Omaha” saying “Pepsi” or “Papa Johns” it is instant marketing and will stick in the mind of those watching. Imagine all the young kids impersonating Manning screaming “Pepsi.” It is a better investment than spending millions for one commercial during one event. Why not spend thousands for your product/brand to be voiced every game and marketed for an entire season, it is a smart tactic. Brands could go through the team to make deals or they could possibly save more money and make the deal through the player. But if you want to be successful and develop a strong relationship, take a page out of the Skittles-Lynch-Seahawks relationship and make a three way deal where everyone wins and receives value out of the deal.
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Review by Zack Krukowski in SRM 435 (section 2)
This article, found on Forbes.com, reports on the new endorsement deal between Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch and Skittles. Lynch and Skittles have been connected for quite some time now, with the star back eating the candy on the sidelines and Seattle fans showering the field with Skittles after a Lynch touchdown. The deal makes their relationship official, through what Matt Dzamba estimates to be “a multi-year deal in the low-to-mid six-figures annually.” The article also touched on Lynch’s reluctance to speak with the media leading up to the Super Bowl. He regularly said the least he possibly could to avoid a fine, something that garnered mixed reactions throughout the league and media.
From a marketing perspective, I believe this is an excellent deal for both sides. When the casual NFL fan thinks of Marshawn Lynch, the back’s love of Skittles may be one of the first things that comes to mind. With Lynch’s Seahawks in this year’s Super Bowl, it made sense for Skittles to get a deal done as soon as possible to best capitalize on his increased exposure. The article also touched on the differences in opportunity from even ten years ago to today. Ten years ago, Dzamba claimed, Skittles would have been very limited in their options for taking advantage of a new deal this close to game day. Today, however, they have the opportunity to launch a PR and Social Media mini-campaign to bring even more exposure to the Lynch’s love connection to the candy. As for Lynch, his well-documented love of Skittles has already brought the brand extensive exposure, so it only makes sense that he be paid as an official endorser. Every time that the camera lingered on a resting Lynch eating Skittles on the sidelines or featured Seattle fans throwing the candy after a big play, the Skittles brand benefitted no differently than they would have with an expensive television ad.
This article relates to our course because we learn about endorsements and about marketing, two prominent themes throughout the piece. Skittles’ ability to capitalize on the added exposure of Super Bowl Sunday will likely emerge as one of the biggest non-football talking points surrounding this year’s game.
From Athletic Business
Review by Dustin Taylor in SRM 435 (section 1)
West Virginia University closed on a big marketing deal this past July. They put out a bid opportunity for marketing firms, and ended up closing a deal with IMG College on a 12 year $86.5 million agreement. This deal gave all of the universities’ athletic programs marketing right to IMG, and they paid WVU the money. West Virginia hopes for the deal are that exposure and sales for games will significantly increase due to the hard work of IMG. IMG has hopes that the money they make from marketing WVU’s athletics through 2025 will well cover the initial expense of $86.5 million that they paid for the rights.
IMG had some issues when first trying to close the deal with WVU for their marketing rights. The original agreement was worth $110 million, but some problems arose about who had rights to broadcast the games. Therefore, the ending deal ended up not getting done until late July. This posed a huge problem as it shortcut IMG’s marketing group time to work on their plans for the upcoming college football season. The group put together a hardworking team, and dove in head first regardless and ended up having some great results.
The IMG group decided to work with the long time voice of the Mountaineer’s radio broadcast, Tony Caridi, to keep him on the radio as part of their team. This was a huge step since he was so well known, and people liked him. The next gigantic step to improving, and bringing in money was the signing of sponsor UPS. IMG put together a few ads for the football team before the 2013 season to try to get some of the players, and mainly the school in general some major attention now that it has joined the BIG 12 conference. Even with the late start IMG was able to exceed their goals by 22-25% at the conclusion of the football season, also overcoming the team having a poor record. IMG has big plans in the future as they will continue to work, and having a full season to prepare should prove to be very beneficial. IMG also plans to utilize more web-based functions to enhance their marketing of WVU athletics in the coming years.
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Review by Zach Lantz in SRM 435 (section 1)
In 2013, International Management Group AKA “IMG” took over management rights of the University of West Virginia’s multimedia rights. IMG has agreed to pay West Virginia 86.5 million dollars over the next 12 years to manage these multimedia rights. In this article, “IMG’s First Year with WVU Rights Exceeds Goals,” it explains how well and why IMG has succeeded their first year of their contract, despite getting off to a late start. IMG had not started until July of 2013 and still by mid December they were projected to make 22-25% of what they had originally anticipated. After taking over, IMG extended the pre-game show from 1 hour to 3 and a-half hours and extended the post-game show from 30 minutes to 2 hours. IMG has made it known that one of their top priorities is to bring in national companies to sponsor the school. While they have already brought UPS aboard, they are in talks with other companies to sponsor WVU. This article does a great job explaining how IMG became a part of WVU, why they chose WVU and how IMG brought on the adversity of becoming the rights owner of WVU’s multimedia in July before the beginning of the football season.
Many universities today hurt for sponsors for their athletic programs. By choosing IMG, WVU has made a tremendous step in promoting their athletic program. WVU’s athletic director, Oliver Luck, explained that the university chose IMG because they needed a bigger multimedia and sponsorships after joining the Big 12. IMG represents more than 90 universities and also the NCAA. While paying WVU over 80 million to hold the rights to their multimedia, IMG’s contract calls for WVU to invest over 2 million dollars in improvements at sports facilities that can be used for marketing. This does not only help IMG market their school, it also helps bring better facilities to West Virginia University.
This article relates to SRM 435 in many different ways. One of the biggest ways it relates to SRM 435 is the marketing and the promotional tools West Virginia and IMG are using to market WVU. IMG will be marketing WVU by creating deals with national companies for sponsorships, they will be advertising through social media and they will also be creating a brand for the fans of West Virginia by creating an environment that keeps these fans coming back. By having taking over, IMG is using all of the tools that we learn during this course and more.
From Athletic Business
Review by Nick Merullo in SRM 435 (section 1)
Recently, the University of Notre Dame has announced their intentions to renovate and expand the historic Notre Dame Stadium at a cost of 400 million dollars. With a plan that current University president Rev. John Jenkins has called, “the most ambitious building project in the 172-year history of Notre Dame,” the school will be adding three to four thousand seats of “premium” seating, as well as adding three buildings to the stadium which will be centered on academics.
The expansion will feature building on the east, west and south sides of the stadium. On the west side the University plans to build an nine story, interactive student center. The new student center will also be used for campus recreation. Because of this, the old recreation facility will be transformed to a practice facility focused solely on the school’s men and women’s basketball teams in a separate project. This will allow the current press box will be torn down and placed on the east side of the stadium where it will be given a more lucrative and modern look. The new east side building will also be nine stories high, and will become the new home to the University’s anthropology and psychology departments, as well as featuring a new digital media center. A final building will be added to the south side of the stadium which will be used for hospitality purposes.
Notre Dame has yet to identify where exactly the funding will come from and hopes to begin construction next year. Jenkins has also said that the project should take nearly three years to finish. To add some perspective as to just how large the expansion will be, the article stated that Baylor University’s entirely new football stadium will cost the school 250 million dollars.
Although the brand of Notre Dame Football has consistently sold itself over the years due to its historic prestige, the school’s Athletic Director Jack Swarbick is excited about the new project. "It's such a powerful symbol given what's going on in college athletics right now, that you can take the stadium and say we believe in the integration of athletics into academics, and here's the living proof of it.” The current Notre Dame Stadium had been used solely for football purposes. With the expansion, the University will be able to market the facility from a standpoint of not just football, but also student life and academics. In an age where so much of the game day experience is based on incentives other than just the game itself, this will make the new facility unique in creating value of the stadium for today’s generation.
At the same time, the project must also take into consideration the opinions of the many football purists within the Notre Dame fan base. Because of this, the decision to refrain from any building on the stadium’s north side is key. This will prevent any obstruction of the famed mural of “Touchdown Jesus” which has long been known as a symbol of the tradition of Fighting Irish football. Although no decision has been made as to whether the playing surface will transition from natural grass to synthetic field turf, the school does intend to avoid placing any commercial advertising on its new interactive video screen scoreboard. And by combining the wants and needs of both the football purists and today’s generation of sports fans, Notre Dame may have the pieces in place for a premiere football facility.
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Review by Luke Drayer in SRM 435 (section 1)
The University of Notre Dame’s 84 year-old stadium is getting a facelift; a $400 million dollar one. The plan to expand was released this past Wednesday by the University’s President, Rev. John Jenkins. According to Jenkins, this expansion is “the most ambitious building project in the 172-year history of Notre Dame.”
Adding between 3,000 to 4,000 premium seats plus three academic buildings on the east, west, and south wings, the stadium will now serve more than just student athletes and their fans. Two new nine story buildings will be attached to the east and west wings, the west side housing the new Student Center which includes a Rec Center and the east side becoming the new home of the anthropology and psychology departments as well as a digital media center. On the south side there will be a six-story hospitality area. "What's exciting about this project is it brings together athletics, faculty and academics, research and a student center, so it's an integrated model," Jenkins said. Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick is another proponent for this change. “It's such a powerful symbol given what's going on in college athletics right now, that you can take the stadium and say we believe in the integration of athletics into academics, and here's the living proof of it," Swarbrick said.
The integration of athletics and academics that Notre Dame is doing is really first of its kind in major college athletic programs and universities. However, by marketing it as such, it is drawing a much broader and larger crowd. Now, not just athletes and the fans will be using the stadium and its surrounding facilities, but everyday students as well. Instead of dumping millions of dollars into a facility that is used “six Saturdays a year” as stated in our video, it is now appealing to a much larger body. The integration of athletics and academics in one massive facility creates value beyond just the game day experience; it also provides a higher sense of school pride and less segregation between regular student and student-athletes.
While much of the expansion is targeting towards the younger generation of students, athletes, and fans, the University still understands its roots. Many of the Notre Dame ‘Purists’ don’t want to see their Touchdown Jesus, a long time good luck symbol for the Fighting Irish, taken down or covered up by the expansion. To see that all parties are pleased, the school has decided not to build anything on the north end of the field. Another concern of the older generation is that of having too much commercial advertising on the new scoreboard, which the school has agreed not to have.
The idea of marketing this new stadium as a multi-purpose facility that integrates both athletics and academics is brilliant and one that I think will start a trend amongst other major universities across the country. While upgrading the facility, not only are they improving the image of the football program, but also that of the university and their value on both the academic and athletic side. The school is promoting themselves as one that is well rounded and doing so with its football program at the forefront; the epitome of sports marketing.
