Dec 04, 2018 at 12:00 AM
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Seven Sponsor Categories To Watch This Winter
Seasonally, SponsorPitch crunches data, sponsorship trends and general business trends to come up with some of the top sponsor categories to watch for in the upcoming season. Winter may not officially begin until December 21st, but with the holidays starting extra early this year we decided to get a jump on categories to watch for Winter:
Wine and Spirits: While beer tends to lag in the winter months, wine and spirits naturally takes off typically between November and January. Who doesn't love a full-bodied red or warm cocktail this time of year? Rather than partnering with established players, special-edition branded wines are gaining popularity with sports teams and athletes. The Golden State Warriors and Tennessee Titans are two of the most recent teams to go down this path. When it come to liquor, New Amsterdam, Tito's, Casamigos Tequila and Jack Daniels have all spiced up their ad spend with major sports sponsorships in recent months, with Bulleit, Deep Eddy and Mike's Hard Lemonade spending the majority of sponsorship dollars at festivals.
Fitness Apps: While gyms have always been packed in January, this year look for a new breed of fitness apps to lead the way when it comes to getting us back in game shape. FitBit may be the most popular, but don't sleep on newcomers like Freeletics, which recently raised $45 million to put a personal trainer in your pocket.
Meal Kits: Similarly, the popularity of meal delivery plans will no doubt skyrocket after the holidays as consumers look to make an easier transition to their annual diet tradition. Trifecta Nutrition, Clean Eats, DeliverLean and Blue Apron are a few of the companies in this category using experiential marketing to differentiate, create awareness and capture market share in an industry that some forecast will double to $10 billion by 2020.
Dental: This is a rollover category from the fall with one twist. Add laser dentistry company, Biolase, to companies like SmileDirectClub, Aspen Dental and The Smile Generation that are shaking up this once boring category with with major new sponsorship deals.
Gambling: The legalization of sports gambling in many states is creating massive new revenue opportunities for teams and leagues. As forecasted, deal flow in this category MGM Resorts, Caesars and William Hill to be the most active while a whole host of local casinos get in on the action through individual team deals.
Tax Prep: If you're like most, you'll probably wait until early April to scramble on taxes, but that won't stop tax prep companies like TaxAct, TaxSlayer, H&R Block and Intuit from making an early (and earlier) play for your business with high-profile marketing and sponsorships.
Job Search: According to TopResume, January and February are the best times to search for long-term, full-time jobs as most companies receive updated budgets and sales forecasts at this time of year. With this in mind, it's not a bad time for properties with an upscale, professional audience to help search engines like Ziprecruiter and Indeed capitalize on this seasonality.
These are just a few categories from the more than 450 sponsorship categories on SponsorPitch. Which categories do you see picking up over the next few months? Before you go, take a look back at a few of our categories to watch from this Fall.
