Hilton Signs 8-Year Sponsorship With Team China

Hilton Worldwide has been unveiled as the official hotel sponsor of the Chinese Olympic Committee (Team China) through 2019. The partnership marks the first time a multinational hotel company has supported the organization and will make the company, which manages more than 3,750 hotels in 84 countries, one of only two multinational sponsors for Team China. The announcement was made earlier toda...

Barclays Doubles Investment in London Bike Program With Additional $41 Million

In marking the Barclays Cycle Hire (BCH) program's first birthday, it was announced that Barclays will retain title branding through 2018 in a new $41 million extension. The public bicycle sharing program, commonly referred to as “Boris Bikes,” has made nearly 6,000 bikes and 400 docking stations throughout London. The scheme offered more than six million rides in the first year. The additio...

OK Go Partners With Google For Customizable Music Video

OK Go, the band that partnered with State Farm on this awesome music video, has teamed up with another blue chip brand to break the mold on music videos. In its latest creation, All is Not Lost, — the band collaborated with Google and the dance troupe and choreographers, Pilobolus, to allow viewers to embed custom messages into music video, which are then danced out. Words don't really do it ju...

Putnam Invests in Patriots Marketing Partnership

Putnam Investments and the Kraft Sports Group today announced a multi-year marketing partnership will provide the Boston-based investment management company with high-profile branding at Gillette Stadium. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed. “Putnam Investments is proud to be associated with the New England Patriots, which has come to signify performance excellence and a winnin...

Real Madrid Signs Emirates As Official Airline

Emirates has added Real Madrid to its portfolio of global sponsorships, in what the AP reports is a five-year sponsorship worth approximately $35 million over the life of the deal. The sponsorship was announced today by officials of both Emirates and Real Madrid from the Presidential Balcony of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium Emirates senior vice president Salem Obaidalla told The Associated Pre...

[Video] Check Out How Kuwait Telecom, VIVA, Launched Its New Man-U Partnership

After inviting media for a "surprise" announcement, the mobile operator unveiled the Premier League Trophy to debut its new five year partnership with Manchester United. Confetti streamed. Music played. People chanted. Don't you wish you could announce all of your deals this way? (function (){var a=document.createElement("script");a.defer="true";a.src="http://www.apture.com/js/apture.js?si...

HBR Lays Out Six Steps to Successful Sponsorship

In an excellent piece by Harvard Business Review, William Rosen, President & Chief Creative Officer of North America at Arc Worldwide, and Laurence Minsky, author of How to Succeed in Advertising When All You Have is Talent, lay out six key steps to making sponsorships successful. The general pitfall that marketers make, the authors say, is measuring the success of a sponsorship as an end i...

Music Start-Up Finds New Distribution Channel in Coca-Cola

The Coca-Cola Company has made an investment in music licensing start-up, Music Dealers, in a deal that the Atlanta-based soft drink company says will help it source emerging music talent for upcoming global brand campaigns. The agreement between Coca-Cola and Music Dealers includes a guaranteed commitment by Coca-Cola to use the services of Music Dealers to discover and license music from curr...

Boris Bikes Deal Draws Criticism For Not Bidding Out Barclays Renewal

Last week, we reported that London-based financial services firm, Barclays, had agreed to put an additional $41 million into London's public bicycle sharing program, Barclays Cycle Hire. The deal extended Barclays title sponsorship through 2018, doubling the bank's lifetime investment in the program. While London mayor, Boris Johnson, took credit for the deal, this BBC report says that Barclays...

PBS Replaces Exxon Mobil With Luxury River Cruise As Masterpiece Sponsor

Six years after Exxon Mobil ended its 30-year partnership with PBS' Masterpiece, the iconic program has landed a new title sponsor. "Masterpiece" executive producer Rebecca Eaton told the the Television Critics Association yesterday that PBS had partnered with Viking River Cruises, who will assume sponsorship of the program in the fourth quarter of this year. “Their people are our people,” Ea...