[Sponsorship] Money Can't Buy You... Internet Buzz?

In August, Moda Health signed a naming rights deal with Portland's Rose Garden. The unconfirmed, but reported estimated price tag was $4 million per year. Peanuts by no means, but smaller than other recent naming rights partnerships in bigger markets. The resulting traffic though according to Google was seismic...

Altogether, not that surprising to see a big pop after a major naming rights announcement. However, compare this chart to a couple of other recent deals...

1. MetLife signed a naming rights deal with Meadowlands Stadium in August 2011 with an estimated, but unconfirmed annualized price tag of 17-$20 million per year:

2. Levi's signed a naming rights deal with the San Francisco 49ers in May of this year with an estimated, but unconfirmed annualized price tag of $11 million per year:

3. AT&T signed a naming rights deal with the Dallas Cowboys in July of this year with an estimated, but unconfirmed annualized price tag of $17-19 million per year:

Perhaps most interesting is the case of Farmers Insurance, which saw a big lift around their January 2011 L.A. NFL stadium naming rights deal with an estimated, but unconfirmed annualized price tag of $23 million per year and also sees an annual bounce each January right around the Farmers Insurance Open:

What's clear among these charts is that a high volume of pre-existing traffic makes the search impact of naming rights deals look a lot less dramatic for blue chip brands as compared to those companies looking to make a name for themselves. Not altogether unexpected. What's more interesting, is that according to Google, even among blue chip brands like Farmers, Levi's, AT&T and MetLife, there seems to be a big variation in impact around major events. Why do some of these brands pop around their partnerships and others not so much? That's likely a function of several factors including activation, market size, press and many others. From the Farmers example a good follow-up question might be how do title sponsorships compare to naming rights deals in terms of generating internet traffic?

While 99% of our members won't be doing naming rights deals, using Google Trends, you can still get a glimpse into consumer internet behavior before, during and after your sponsorship deals. It's definitely something worth checking out if you haven't before.