I had an internship with the Iowa Cubs baseball team this summer, and I thought a lot about how companies advertise through sports teams. Every inning there was a different promotion that needed to be mentioned for a company. I was exposed to this every home game, and even the outfield fence is covered in billboards of local companies. This is one of the ways that the Iowa Cubs earns money.
Many marketers realize that there is a lot of untapped advertising in the “Big Four” sports: football, basketball, baseball, and hockey. Different sports do this already, like soccer or the WNBA. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the advertising on the front of the player’s jersey. Some famous ones in the soccer are: Samsung (Chelsea), T-Mobile (Bayern Munich), Red Bull (New York Red Bulls), and XBOX360 (Seattle Sounders).
The “Big Four” are on TV all the time, and the amount of time that the players are on the TV, and the amount of exposure that a company could get would be enormous. In fact, a 2010 Media Agency of the Year Horizon Media did a study on how much money that these teams could generate in advertising value. They took a couple of different factors into account, like how big the logos would be or how often the logos would be on the screen. Some of the findings are kind of shocking. No surprise, but the NFL (being the U.S.’s most popular sport) was worth more than any of the other “Big Four.” The NFL teams with the biggest potential are Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, New England Patriots, New York Jets, and Philadelphia Eagles, all with a value of just over $14 million. The New York Yankees are worth $13.8 million, and the Los Angeles Lakers are worth about $4 million.
Many experts think that advertising on jerseys will happen eventually. In fact, well known author Bill Simmons frequently suggests it for the NBA (which is currently in a lockout). There is too much money there for the sports leagues and too much advertising possibilities for companies for this to not happen in the future. You can actually count me in the category of people who like the jerseys being plain and traditional.
It looks like the future is in jersey advertising. In fact, there are already sponsors for practice jerseys in the NFL and NBA. There is too much money for sports leagues and too much advertising for companies to not go this direction eventually. But I will not be looking forward to the day it happens.
I think this is a really interesting post, and it could be useful for someone looking to expand on their marketing ideas. By approaching sports teams with the idea of selling the space on their jerseys. I agree with you that this is the next big move in advertising. With the struggling economy people are looking for anyway possible to make money and I think sports teams are in this same boat.
ReplyDeleteGreat job finding an article that could really help a marketing team out on new ideas of something they could approach and turn into a reality.
This reminds me of all the times I have seen Tiger Woods wearing the Nike sign on his hats and the different displays on the Nascar cars. Marketing is everywhere. Coming up with new ideas to market products is never ending. It is going to cost a lot of money if marketers confront sports teams for the space on the jerseys. This is a great idea, I just hope that they don't distract the audience from the jersey team name or player name.
ReplyDeleteKelsey Hagelberg
I think jersey advertising is a great way to get your name out there. Even though it can be distracting to the team name or player name it is showing their appreciation to the company. I am curious to see if other sports, besides just soccer, expand to these sort of marketing. But, it is also interesting to see the different kinds of advertising. For instance, when you go to a baseball game you always know you will see ads beyond ads on the outfield fence. Maybe each sport has their own way of showing their sponsors. If every team does the jersey advertising will the idea not catch someones eye? It will be interesting to see if other sports begin doing jersey advertising or if they will stick to their own way of doing things.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your blog, it gives marketers a new idea to put in their head when advertising.
Although I feel that this is an interesting idea, I feel that jersey advertising will never happen for any of the "big four." The reason that teams like soccer and WNBA use jersey advertising is because they need the money due to limited resources. Sports such as football already exceed what they need in advertising without this distraction. I see this as a good idea for struggling sports or even armature or little league teams, but unless any of the "big four" start struggling for money, this is just a dream for marketers.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great blog because jersey advertising truly is an up and coming marketing strategy that many teams are starting to develop. I did an internship with the Menace soccer team two years ago and they have logos on their jersey as well as shorts. Not only did the Menace have ads on their jerseys and shorts, but they also had the big ads that would hang up on the fence so the fans could see those as well. The big four may not catch on to this strategy yet, but sooner or later they will realize that this is a great opportunity to get their name out there.
ReplyDeleteThe history and integrity of the "big four" is too great to be distracted by advertisements on their jerseys. I believe that this would cause fans to think less of the game and viewership would go down if the "big four". Fans would think that sports teams are selling out if their favorite sports teams were known as the Wonderbreads or the Poptarts. Everything but the jersey can be subject to advertisements. I think that is very relevant and do not think that should change.
ReplyDelete