Symphony Signs Pot Partner

Well, here's something you don't see every day. Ideal 420 Soil, a company that sells cultivation products to marijuana growers is the presenting sponsor of the Colorado Symphony's new "Classically Cannabis: High Note Series." While controlled substances and symphonies may seem like strange bedfellows, Colorado Symphony executive director Jerry Kern tells the Denver Post that he hopes the sponso...

Merger Creates One Stop Shop For Movie Marketing

If you've ever grumbled about ads while waiting for your movie to start, chances are they were coming from one of these two companies. The nation’s biggest provider of in-theater advertising, National CineMedia, is buying rival, Screenvision, in a deal worth $375 million. If the deal gets approved by regulators, NCM-Screenvision together will offer marketers access to 3,900 theaters with over 3...

LN: Festival Sponsorship Expected To Be Up 15% This Year

Live Nation COO Joe Berchtold told analysts last night that the music industry bellwether expects festival sponsorship to continue growing rapidly, and for the full year, to increase by over 15%. For the most recent quarter, Live Nation's sponsorship business was $45 million, up 13% over 2013 due to higher sponsorship revenue generated from new clients and growth in online advertising. "O...

Pandora Pitches Promoted Stations

Pandora has launched the beta of a new marketing solution that it's calling Promoted Stations. Promoted stations, which embed brand content directly into a listener's station list, are being served for beta partners: Kleenex, Skechers, StubHub, Taco Bell and Toyota. Promoted Stations are being served to roughly 10 percent of Pandora’s 76 million monthly users with brand content appearing alon...

Publicis, Omnicom Call Off Monster Merger

The planned $35 billion merger of two of advertising's biggest players, Publicis and Omnicom, has been terminated as a result of what both parties are calling "difficulties in completing the transaction within a reasonable timeframe." The merger, announced last July, would have created the world's largest ad holding company, while at the same time, in theory, consolidating billions in sponsorsh...

Hendrick Goes Super Hero For Latest Sponsorship

11-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions Hendrick Motorsports will get an interesting new look as a result of a three-year agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) and DC Entertainment (DCE). WBCP and DCE will work with Hendrick Motorsports and its partners to build on- and off-track programs teaming star drivers Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. wi...

Here's How Much California Chrome's Nasal Strip Would Be Worth To Sponsors

The $10 nasal strip California Chrome will sport at Belmont in the quest for the Triple Crown would deliver 38,400 times that amount in on-air media value, according to Front Row Analytics.

Levi's Gets Creative With Trademarks

Almost immediately after Levi's signed its $220 million, 20 year naming rights deal with with the San Francisco 49ers in March, pundits were proposing monikers for the new stadium. It seems fans aren't content with Levi's Stadium. Among the nicknames recently trademarked by the blue jeans maker are the following: "Field of Jeans" "Win one for the Zipper" What do you think? Got anything bett...

Verizon Vies For Direct Value in NFL Deal

The Sports Business Journal is reporting that Verizon is close to announcing a four-year, $1 billion extension of its partnership with the NFL, a deal that will allow the company to “to stream every NFL regular season and playoff game to mobile phones.” The agreement is significant for two reasons. First, it shows the NFL’s power to command a premium price for league-wide sponsorship/media rig...

Oil Co. Uses Game Sponsorship To Beat Hiring Crisis

With the oil industry suffering from an employee recruitment crisis, Danish shipping and oil company Maersk has come up with a curious hiring idea. It's developing and distributing a computer game called 'Quest for Oil' as part of the company’s larger plan to engage and educate the public about oil and gas exploration, and to inspire younger players to consider employment in the industry down t...