Colbert Nation Becomes Official Sponsor of U.S. Speedskating

In the latest example of crowdsourcing sponsorship, which we've covered extensively (here, here, here, here, and here) Comedy Central's Colbert Nation has stepped up to become an official sponsor of the U.S. Speedskating team. Colbert Nation's sponsorship will include uniform branding and comes on the heels of the U.S.S.A previous sponsor, DSB Bank, declaring bankruptcy. Colbert made the annou...

Holiday Events as Branded Entertainment

Looking for new ways to activate your event partnerships this holiday season? In the past couple of years, projection ads have gotten a whole lot more sophisticated. It's no longer a logo projected onto a flat surface, folks. Check these two examples from the U.K. which really show the new capabilities of the medium. waterloo station advertising from clive darr on Vimeo. Since many proper...

Coca-Cola Pops the Top on Hollywood Parade

Coca-Cola today announced it would be the presenting sponsor of this year's Hollywood Christmas Parade, the first time in its 82 year history that it will be nationally televised in a two-hour special. The event will be co-sponsored by City of Los Angeles and Associated Television International. From AdWeek: Coke regularly amps up its marketing during the fourth quarter. Its animated polar be...

More on the QBE/Premiership Deal

On October 21st, Australian specialist insurance firm QBE made a splash in Europe by announcing its upcoming sponsorship of Guinness Premiership. To celebrate the partnership, QBE unveiled a 4 meter high branded rugby ball at One Lime Street next to the Lloyd's building, home of insurance institution, Lloyd's of London. Check out this video from QBE and london firm, Generate Sponsorship. QBE R...

Shifts in Spending to Q4, Marketers Prefer 'Just in Time' Advertising

Lots of media and marketing earnings calls this week. Here's two bellwethers from today, which seem to reflect a still cautious yet more upbeat expectation for ad markets heading into Q4. For instance, Viacom is seeing advertisers purchasing "just in time" inventory, while over at MasterCard, lower-than-expected Q3 spending, may result in "the fourth quarter advertising and marketing spend [...

Sponsorship FAIL

There's a million and one things that can go wrong between the time you sign a sponsorship deal and the time you measure it. It's more important than ever to make sure you've got the most experienced partners by your side. Whether you need help selling, finding, activating or measuring sponsorships; the SponsorPitch service providers database will feature targeted product and service solutio...

Under Armour and IMG Unveil High School Combines

Under Armour and IMG have announced that they will partner on the development of a new athletic training platform that will establish a global measurement standard for improved sports performance, health and fitness called "Combine360". A release announcing the deal said that the new platform "will measure and record sport-specific ability and mental aptitude, nutritional level, ability to comm...

Links 11/03/2009

The Most Brutal Sponsorship Ever IMG and Under Armour Partner for High School Combines, and Performance Measurement StandardTennis Mag: What Mercedes’ Move Means for ToursExamining the Bobcats' New SponsorChoctaw Casino Resort Named Primary Sponsor of RCR’s No. 07 at Texas Motor SpeedwayA new ‘Western’ image and an NBA sponsorship help Chinese beer, Tsingtao, lift salesCoke to Host Hollywo...

Which Sourcebook Reigns Supreme?

It's the end of the year and many properties are making plans to purchase a sourcebook to help find sponsorship contacts and information. With that in mind, we whipped up a quick comparative analysis of the two most often mentioned products - SBJ Resource Guide & Factbook and the IEG Sourcebook. For the sake of this, we only looked at what kind of sponsor information each brought to the tab...

Is Sponsorship a Sin?

There is the assumption by some - when it comes to athlete sponsorship/endorsement especially - that celebrities are often "anointed" because of marketability and commercial interests, in the absence of any real accomplishments on the court, the stage, the screen, etc. This perception is rooted in individual sports, but can also apply to other forms of entertainment - film, music, arts. Some sa...