Sports marketing
The sports marketing trend Baseball, football, basketball, even ultimate fighting promote tire brands to the masses By Bob Ulrich
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ports marketing is a numbers game. Hits on a webpage ad are more important than hits during a baseball or football game. Impressions and views count for more than outcome. Looking back at the recently completed Major League Baseball season, four tire brands were featured in field-level, behind home plate signage, depending on which stadium you were in. As the “official tire of Major League Baseball,” Firestone could be seen in all 30 major league stadiums in some capacity.
“Sports reach a lot of people, but it also reaches a lot of eyeballs,” says Bill Barbera, senior vice president of sales for Van Wagner Sports Group. “And it’s global.” Barbera has worked with Hankook Tire America Corp. for 10 years.
“That board behind home plate can be sold by a local team, but if a game becomes a national broadcast, that becomes a national element that’s sold,” explains Phil Pacsi, vice president of consumer tire marketing in North America for Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC. Hankook signage appeared in 22 of the 30 stadiums, including Citizens Bank Park, home of the Philadelphia Phillies. Yokohama could be seen in Angel Stadium of Anaheim, home of the Los Angeles Angels, while Maxxis partnered with the New York Yankees. The key to impressions is television coverage, not the head count. “Sports reach a lot of people, but it also reaches a lot of eyeballs,” says Bill Barbera, senior vice president of sales for Van Wagner Sports Group. “And it’s global.” Barbera has worked with Hankook for 10 years. He says home plate signage puts advertising into the telecast, and helps the brand “become part of the game.” Calvin Pak, general manager of Hankook’s marketing team,
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says the company has used sports marketing to increase brand awareness and build brand image. It tied this year’s involvement in baseball to two major consumer rebate and car giveaway promotions: “Great Catch” in the spring and “Great Hit” in the fall. “Especially this year, I think we’ve received a lot of compliments from customers and dealers. One of the things we’re doing differently from previous years is leveraging and creating synergy.” Maxxis International, based in Taiwan, and its United States subsidiary also have sponsored the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago White Sox, Atlanta Braves and Detroit Tigers in the past. “There’s talk about sponsoring the Yankees again next year,” says John Wu, assistant product manager for the Maxxis International—USA’s Automotive Tire Division. “They also are popular back home.” Nitto Tire U.S.A. Inc. has been a Los Angeles Angels sponsor for two years. As part of that sponsorship, the brand appears in the Angels’ magazine and on the scoreboard behind home plate. This season, fans received plenty of swag: Nitto handed out commemorative T-shirts on opening day; “Eco Bags” filled with recycled products in May; and a drawstring backpack in July. Baseball is one of many television-driven, non-racing sports with which tire manufacturers are aligned. • Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations LLC, Kumho Tire U.S.A. Inc.: National Football League (NFL). • Yokohama Tire Corp., Kumho: National Basketball Association (NBA). • Continental Tire the Americas LLC, Kumho: Major League Soccer (MLS). • Cooper Tire & Rubber Co., Toyo Tire U.S.A. Corp., Kumho, Continental: collegiate athletics. • Bridgestone: National Hockey League (NHL), Professional Golfers Association (PGA). • Toyo: Ultimate Fighting Championship. Not everyone thinks sports marketing is an effective use of advertising dollars from tire manufacturers. “I still don’t see the value in what everyone’s calling sports marketing,” says Richard Smallwood, CEO and president of Falken Tire Corp. “When we see the signage in the stadiums, it shows the brand, but not what the brand stands for. There is no emotional attachment or meaning assigned to the brand. The average American consumer is exposed to upwards of 3,000 brand messages a day. How does that static sign set your brand apart from all of the other brand messages bombarding the consumer?
MTD November 2011 10/14/11 10:32:59 AM