Deal Flow: 7-7-2009

Panasonic signed on as an official partner of the NHL's L.A. Kings. Panasonic's role as the "Official Partner of the LA Kings" is part of a broader, long-term strategic agreement between Panasonic and AEG, the sports and entertainment company that owns the NHL team. The deal includes product integration for Panasonic in AEG-owned properties throughout North America. Go Daddy, the domain nam...

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All that Jazz... Sponsors Sing a New Note

Yesterday, TD Bank announced that it would take over presenting sponsorship (from GM) of the 2010 Montreal Jazz Festival, the largest jazz festival in the world with nearly 2.5 million visitors. Not to be outdone, Jazz' chief promoter on the same day announced an ambitious plan to revive jazz festivals in Newport and New York... this time on his own, just like he did for the first time in 1...

Selling Local Sponsorships for Nonprofits: Reaching Out

A cause is often the cornerstone of many sports and entertainment sponsorship platforms. Today's "key learning" comes from Joe Waters, who is the Director of Cause Marketing for Boston Medical Center, an avid blogger at Selfishgiving.com and a rabid Boston Red Sox fan. In addition to being a one-time winner of the SponsorPitch Friday Caption Contest, he has agreed to lend us his insights on ca...

Sponsorship + PR DeathMatch

Stand-up and take credit sponsorship professionals! Many a perfectly manicured press release has been mangled by your doings. Sure you've explained it away: "more deals, more revenue, more acknowledgements..." but when media relations and corporate sales really go to battle, who comes out alive? From Sarah Talalay of the Sun Sentinel: Here’s my favorite part of the press release [on the Ma...

And on that topic of "ambush"...

Hungry tennis fans had plenty to snack on at Wimbledon last week. Appx. 24,000 cans of Pringles, branded with the slogan "These are NOT tennis balls!" were provided to hungry Wimbledon fans outside the gates of the All England Tennis Club. Pringles has no official relationship with the AELTC and Wimbledon officials didn't seem to mind as they decided not to confiscate the cans from fans. Th...

Passion Planes, Part III

The plane paparazzi has had an amazing two weeks. First bloggers uncovered the Oakland Raiders' branded Air Asia plane in an Oakland hanger and then last weekend plane spotters spoiled Air Canada's Olympic surprise. Between these two and the Real Salt Lake/Jet Blue carrier, the PR folks would have you believe that you haven't "arrived" unless at least one member of your fleet is activating ......

Deal Flow 7-8-2009

TD Bank will take over for General Motors as title sponsor of the Montreal International Jazz Festival starting in 2010. XanGo, the mangosteen beverage category creator and market leader, and Major League Soccer's Real Salt Lake (RSL) announced today a three-year renewal of the club's title jersey-front sponsorship. XanGo's multi-year deal with Real Salt Lake includes signage and promotional ...

From the Trenches: An Interview with ADC Partners

In 1998 when working as an AAE at FCB Sports in San Francisco, I got a call from a guy interested in pitching sponsorship of a college basketball event called the “Pete Newell Challenge” to our client, PowerBar. It was one of the best calls I ever had in that job, as it introduced me to Andy Dallin. A sports and sponsorship marketing veteran on both the corporate and property side, Andy is on...

Summer in Spain: O, the Possibilities!

First, let me say that it has never EVER been on my bucket list to run with the bulls in Pamplona. Having witnessed it (from the sidelines) first hand, anyone contemplating this is completely NUTS. With that said, and in honor of the annual event dating back to 1215, let's take a second to imagine the possibilities if Spanish customs embraced the modern model of corporate sponsorship. Here's ...