Wasserman Adds To Activation Capabilities With Agency Acquisition

Wasserman Media Group has acquired London-based experiential marketing agency Ignite. Ignite, which helps corporate clients like Barclays, Vodafone, Sky and others activate sponsored events, was founded in 2002. The acquisition will complement Wasserman's deep roots in rights and representation by adding more than 10 years worth of experience and 50+ employees devoted to sponsorship activati...

NCAA and EA Sports Split Ways

NCAA Football '14 will be the last for the hugely popular video game franchise. Citing the cost stemming from ongoing litigation over whether Electronic Arts' NCAA football franchise unfairly uses the likenesses of student-athletes, the NCAA has elected not to renew its contract with EA Sports. The NCAA released this statement... NCAA will not renew EA Sports contract The NCAA has made th...

Under Armour Harnesses Inner Super Hero With Latest Partnership

DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. have teamed up with performance apparel maker, Under Armour, to let athletes live out their super hero alter egos. Inspired by DC Comics characters like Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the Baltimore-based UA has announced it will launch the Alter Ego collection, which it says will "combine performance and personality so every athlete can be superhuman." ...

North America's Largest Transportation System Has A Plan For Handling Naming Rights

While the nation's largest subway system has from time to time entered naming rights negotiations, no standard protocol exists for fielding sponsorship offers. That may be about to change as a formal process has been proposed for handling naming rights for New York's MTA. The following proposed guidelines will be debated during this week's board meeting "in anticipation of future requests" to r...

New Facebook Game Could Be Market Research Tool For Music Sponsors

Called Facebook meets the music business, a new social game lets you manage your favorite artists from Rick Ross to T-Pain. From picking tour stops to selecting corporate sponsors, Play GIG-IT features over 70 current artists. Perhaps most interestingly, Forbes' Zack O'Malley Greenburg writes that the game could become a market research tool for sponsors: "There’s market research potential ...

Linkedin, The Latest To Try Its Hand At 'Sponsored Updates'

Following in the footsteps of other social network bellwethers, Linkedin announced last night that it would be the latest online community to launch what it is calling sponsored updates. Whether as a user you like it or not it's a trend that is likely here to stay so get used to seeing more and more advertorial content targeted to your social streams. Take a look... The updates, whi...

NYC Marathon On The Hunt For New Title Partner

It's been a rough year for the running community and the northeast in general. After getting cancelled due to Hurricane Sandy, the New York City Marathon is in search of a new title sponsorship deal after ING revealed to SportsBusiness Journal that it would not renew the title sponsorship it has held since 2003. The move is not unexpected as ING recently reorganized its banking and insuranc...

Smurfs, Sony Score With Sponsorship

The Smurfs found their way into victory lane at the Brickyard 400 just ahead of their nationwide debut. Sony Pictures Entertainment partnered up with the #39 Quicken Loans Chevrolet this past weekend to promote The Smurfs 2, which premieres July 31st in theaters across the country. With Ryan Newman's win, the Smurfs found themselves in a rather unusual spot... victory lane! Check out this paint...

Publicis + Omnicom = World's Largest Agency

In a widely anticipated merger of mega ad-holding companies, Publicis and Omnicom have announced their intention to merge. The result will be the largest advertising company in the world with roughly $23 billion in annual revenues. For sponsorship, that means that agencies such as GMR, The Marketing Arm, TracyLocke, Sportsmark and Optimum will now be bedfellows with Starcom MediaVest, Zenith Op...

Too Much?

It seems micro-sponsorship is all the rage. Or at least, that seems like the only plausible argument for Oulu Energy Arena's distinctly more is more sponsorship strategy. Courtesy of Yahoo!... H/T: Yahoo!