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Above:
Missouri River Otters concentrate on the game, while advertisers’
signage provides the backdrop.
Sport
Support
Aiming ads at sports fans promotes image, awareness and association
with a winning team.
By Kevin Kipp
The St. Louis Huffus make a crucial though largely unheralded
contribution to making this town the best sports city in America.
Huffus aren’t a new NBA franchise, not the new lacrosse team
from North Dakota. They’re heavy fast food users.
“They’re the target of our sports advertising: male, 15 to 49,”
says Larry Brayman, director of corporate affairs for Hardee’s Food
Systems Inc. “Demographically that matches almost perfectly with
the football viewer.”
So it makes sense that Hardee’s uses the Rams’ home dome as an advertising
platform, “on the marquee sign facing Interstate 70,” Brayman says.
It reads: “Hardee’s—St. Louis’ Hometown Restaurant,” reflecting
the move of corporate headquarters to St. Louis from North Carolina,
in June of 2000. “It’s been a wonderful awareness-driving tool to
be associated with the Rams,” Brayman says.
They also pitch the hometown connection with signage in Busch Stadium
and in radio advertising, “to associate Hardee’s with the Cardinals,
a strong brand in St. Louis. It builds our equity as a hometown
player.”
Cardinals senior vice president for sales & marketing Dan Farrell
says, “Sponsorships are a key ingredient in the revenue mix. Like
our fans, the commitment of our corporate sponsors over-indexes
to the norm. The loyalty of our sponsors allows us to outperform
our market size.”
Baseball heaven or not, Tino Martinez, Jason Isringhausen and So
Taguchi didn’t sign with the Redbirds for free. Thank you, Huffus.
Farrell says “Sponsors value the association with the tradition
of success that Cardinals baseball represents and the loyalty of
the fan base. These are unique and valuable.”
The object is to “match Cardinal assets to corporate partners’ objectives,”
he says. Like logos. Southwestern Bell’s Cingular Wireless offers
Cardinal trademarks on phone face plates.
In selecting sports advertising options, Brayman says Hardee’s looks
at “the biggest bang for the buck with well respected, well attended
organizations, and the number of impressions per cost to reach each
person. But it’s not measurable exclusively in dollars. Our goal
is rebuilding our image in St. Louis with proven hometown organizations
that are also respected for their contributions to the community.”
Besides logos, signage and media “inventory” on KMOX and Fox Sports
Net Midwest, Cardinals’ “assets” include tickets, on-field events,
register-to-win contests that give away goodies usually available
only to insiders. And sponsors.
Farrell says the cost of Cardinal partnerships run from “the $50,000
range to close to seven figures.”
Promotions can range from strictly ticketing-based—Subway has a
coupon on the back of game tickets—to special sections in the ballpark
that Hardee’s’ Brayman wryly identifies as “sharing the name of
particularly popular player, now retired”: Big Mac Land.
If somebody hits one high, hard and long enough to land there, then
McDonalds’ honors ticket stubs as free hamburger coupons. Slugfest
or pitchers’ duel, the signage, er, section sits visibly over left
field, and is given special attention during each game [Joe Buck:
“49,000 Big Macs to go, please”]. They also enjoy retail promotional
rights, Farrell says.
Other Cardinals advertisers are Hunter Hot Dogs, Ice Mountain Water,
MasterCard, HomeDepot, Coca Cola and Schnuck’s. Beer companies have
been known to aim ads at sports fans, too.
“Our sponsorship philosophy is simple: Reach as many adult consumers
as possible,” says Tony Ponturo, vice president, global media &
sports marketing at Anheuser-Busch Inc.
Ponturo says A-B sponsors premier leagues (NFL, Major League Baseball,
NASCAR, NBA, NHL) and events (Olympics, World Cup). They’re in on
televised sports and in stadiums. “Our brands are top-of-mind with
sports fans all over the world,” Ponturo says, but he did not disclose
the company’s overall sports advertising budget, nor terms of specific
agreements.
Besides demographic considerations, companies look at the end game.
For Hardee’s in St. Louis, it’s hometown pride. For Anheuser-Busch,
one strategy is “look of the leader.”
Ponturo says his company’s sponsorships of “events like the Super
Bowl not only allow us to reach millions of our target consumers
with key brand messages, but also helps position Anheuser-Busch
as a leader in the marketing world.”
Hardee’s also advertises with college sports teams and major league
franchises in Indianapolis, Raleigh, and Nashville, and a minor
league outfit in Charleston, S.C. “Charleston is our only relationship
with a minor league professional franchise,” Brayman says.
Kevin
Fitzgerald, president and general manager of the Missouri River
Otters says Hardee’s would be welcome at the Family Arena in St.
Charles, site of 37 United Hockey League games each season.
His packages start at $500. You get the opportunity “to distribute
your literature in the lobby for a single game, a message on the
scoreboard, a P.A. announcement, and a prize to give away, like
an autographed hockey stick.”
Fitzgerald says an Otters game usually draws 3,500 to 4,000 people.
“Our fans are a mix of families including 8-to-14 year old boys
who play youth hockey [yo-ho huffus?], and hockey purists who enjoy
a high-quality game at a more affordable price. They can enjoy a
game and a couple of beverages for around $20. And even the cheap
seats are close.”
And the close seats are cheap: 12 rows from the ice at the center
line runs $14. Not bad for hockey that features real passing, instead
of “promote-me-to-the-NHL” net crashing.
The Otter roster of corporate advertisers includes Quizno’s, Golden
Corral, Cecil Whittaker’s, Pepsi, SSM St. Joseph Health Center and
Pundmann Ford.
“In the $30,000 range, Anheuser-Busch has two dasher boards and
an in-ice logo, the back cover of the yearbook, and the back panel
of our pocket schedules,” he says. Anybody doing more? Fitzgerald:
“Well, we don’t have anyone anywhere near $50,000, but we won’t
stop you if you want to go on a shopping spree.”
Above:
Sponsors, like Bank of America, value the association with the
tradition of success that Cardinals baseball represents and the
loyalty of the fan base.
Naming Rights
The Dome the St. Louis Rams call home, just became the Edward Jones
Dome. The nation's 7th largest brokerage firm recently announced
it will pay up to $73.6 million over 23 years to link its company
name to the NFL and championship football in St. Louis.
"Entering this contract makes good sense, both for our customers
and for our firm," notes John Bachmann, Edward Jones managing partner.
"It will help extend recognition of the Edward Jones name nationally
and internationally. That, in turn, will help our firm continue
to grow, bringing quality investment services to even greater numbers
of people."
Bachmann notes that the chance to secure naming rights--especially
to a building that is home to one of today's most successful NFL
franchises--is a rare opportunity.
"Edward Jones is a leader in the brokerage business," says Phil
Thomas, Rams' vice president of marketing and sales, "and we are
proud to welcome such a highly-regarded, corporate citizen to our
team. Quality is the hallmark of the Rams, both on and off the field
and adding Edward Jones to our corporate partner family is a great
victory for the St. Louis Rams."
The Dome has also been in the news lately because of its enormous
tax benefits to the region. According to a study conducted by University
of Missouri--St. Louis Economics professor, Donald Phares, the Edward
Jones Dome and Convention Center together contribute $111 million
to state, local and city tax coffers annually.
Above:
Georgia Frontiere, Rams majority owner, and John Bachmann, managing
partner Edward Jones, announce the name of the Edward Jones Dome.
Kevin Kipp runs Bubble Communications, a creative services and
community relations firm in St. Charles.
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