Amgen Tour Announces Sponsor-Friendly Finish Line

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and some of America's most accomplished cyclists, including @LanceArmstrong, today announced via Twitter the 16 host cities for California's professional cycling road race, The Amgen Tour of California. Most interesting to us is the sponsor-friendly finish line. The eight-day race will finish in title-sponsor Amgen's hometown community of Thousand Oaks. "Choos...

Omnicom: 'Sports & Event Marketing Down 30%'

Global advertising firm Omnicom reported third-quarter profit that fell 23% to $165.6 million on revenue of $2.84 billion for the quarter, a 14% drop. Despite saying client spends have stabilized, Omnicom cited a 30% drop in its sports and event marketing spend. Here's what Omnicom CEO John Wren and CFO Randall J. Weisenburger had to say on yesterday's Q3 call... In the United States, with th...

The Shape of Things to Come in NASCAR

We just completed a big consulting exercise for a major NASCAR sponsor to help them figure out what they should do next season. It was a pretty interesting exercise and by doing so revealed some facts which may be of pretty broad interest to those involved in the sport. For the first time some of the top teams in NASCAR are offering signficant incentive schemes to reward wins. Instead of pay...

Links 10/22/2009

Harman International Announces Extended Role as an Official Sound Partner to the GRAMMY AwardsOttawa Senators partner with Helix Hearing Care CentresManchester United Cool on IMG's Pitchside Proposal SpongeTech Partners with Chicago BlackhawksCorner the Market - Giants and Jets Sign PepsiCo for Corner SponsorshipMaking Sponsorship Pay - Even In A RecessionGive Away the Tix, Sell the ...

Barclays Renews Premier Deal at £82.25M

Barclays has officially signed a three year deal with the Premier League worth £82.25 million ($134.5 million) over the next three years. “The clubs unanimously accepted Barclays' proposal and are looking forward to further developing a successful relationship for what must be considered one of sport's top sponsorship properties," Premier League chief executive Richard Scudamore said. Th...

Activation Tactic of the Week

Are you looking to provide incremental inventory for corporate partners? Are you looking for new ways to leverage sonic branding at your venue? Sports organizations looking for new ways to enhance the gameday experience via branding should take note of the piano stairs craze circulating around the world. If you have not seen the clip yet (shown below), Volkswagen decided that it would change...

'Til Death Do Us Part

News of the week is that Staples has signed a “lifetime” extension to be the title sponsor of the Staples Center. Let’s leave aside the semantic issue of whose lifetime precisely – that of the Center which will inevitably be knocked down and replaced by some future uber-center in a few years, or that of Staples until it gets taken over or becomes Office Staples in a merger. Either way we’...

New LG Line Hits Fashion Week Runway

Fashion show attendees are becoming accustomed to snagging some serious sponsor swag at Fashion Weeks around the world, but when the lights dim it's usually all about the designer. At LG Fashion Week's Evan Biddell show last night however, models shared the spotlight with a special guest: the LG Chocolate. Strutting the runway in the latest designs, models were accompanied by the new phone ...

Are College Sports Headed The Way of the Online Ad Network?

I wanted to throw something out for discussion and I hope some of you will weigh in with your $.02. Recently, we've heard a considerable amount of chatter (both good and bad) about major sports marketing agencies making an entrance into the college sports space. First, the good... it's widely assumed that colleges will derive more revenue from the marketing muscle that these agencies bring to ...

Property of the Week: Tour of Virginia

Looking for a unique way to the more than 420,000 residents living in Roanoke and Harrisonburg areas and the more than 7.6 million people in Virginia through sports and entertainment? If so, now's the time to start thinking about 2010 opportunities like the Tour of Virginia. What is the Tour of Virginia... The Tour of Virginia is a five-day professional road cycling race and rolling st...