College Bowl Sprawl
The college bowl scene, once a few games dominating New Year’s Day television, has evolved into a protracted branding bonanza kicking off before Christmas.
A flurry of sponsored contests emerged a decade ago, apparently to satisfy collegiate football fans’ seemingly illimitable appetite for post-season pigskin action. It’s become a big-money annual industry to prod TV ratings and push marketing agendas.
The major Bowl Championship Series games still garner the greatest attention, and their corporate sponsors make an effort to differentiate them from the roster of 41 post-season collegiate contests that now exist. The various opponents won’t be known until Dec. 3.
In its 12th year as title sponsor of the Cotton Bowl, AT&T is adding a new media element to keep fans focused on whoever is playing. During the game, viewers will be invited to predict each play, either by text messaging or at www.ATTblueroom.com. They’ll accumulate points in the process, with a grand-prize winner and secondary winners getting AT&T service perks — yet to be determined — as rewards.
Fox sportscasters will plug the contest during the game, and it will also be promoted on the AT&T Blue Room sports portal. AT&T sees the play-by-play ploy as a potential “cornerstone of the Cotton Bowl” in succeeding years, says Deborah Carranza, AT&T associate director of sponsorships and events.
The telco will also host a 53-foot interactive football-themed trailer highlighting AT&T products and services at the nearby state fairgrounds.
The Allstate Sugar Bowl will be marked with its signature signage: the Allstate good hands logo and name in goalpost netting at both ends of the playing field. “You walk into the Superdome and there’s no missing who the title sponsor is: It’s Allstate everywhere,” says Pam Hollander, Allstate director of sponsorships and promotion.
Allstate will have a presence at the Sugar Bowl Fan Fest for three days preceding the game, including a giant field goal net where fans can win foam fingers of their favorite teams if they can hit the mark. It will also have booths at the fan fest and the Fan Jam tailgate party on game day promoting Allstate services.
Allstate’s good hands will also be appearing in goalpost netting at the final BCS National Championship game, where it is the title sponsor this season. (Both the Sugar Bowl and championship game are in New Orleans this year.)
Two winners of Allstate’s season-long Are You in Good Seats? promotion on college campuses will win tickets to the BCS championship.
That’s a staple feature of promotions for many of the bowl games each year. ESPN is running a Road to the Rose Bowl sweepstakes, offering two tickets to the New Year’s Day classic that has Citibank as presenting sponsor.
The Outback Bowl, an event that wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for the steakhouse chain, is also running an online sweepstakes for a trip to the game, as well as giving away tickets to the competing schools.
There’s no mistaking the title sponsor for the Tampa Bay tilt: The Outback Steakhouse blimp will hover over the stadium during the game, and the restaurant’s logos appear at midfield and on the 20 yard lines. “Just about everything we do has that Outback name on it,” says Mike Schulze, director of communications and sponsorships for the Tampa Bay Bowl Association.
The corporate quest for bowl roles is often based on a product affinity with football, as in the case of the PapaJohns.com Bowl. “Pizza and football go hand in hand,” says PapaJohns.com spokesman Chris Sternberg.
The pizza chain pushes its Birmingham, AL, bowl game locally with a special offer for two weeks preceding the Dec. 22 contest: two pizzas and tickets to the game for $40.
Halftime festivities feature the PapaJohns Go Deep Quarterback Challenge, with two fans of the opposing teams competing to see who can throw a football the farthest while seated in a recliner.
Valero’s initial year of sponsoring the Alamo Bowl is partly spawned by its corporate presence in San Antonio. “There’s an element of the local community connection,” says Rich Hill, vice president of marketing for the Valero Alamo Bowl.
Fans can compete to win 10 pairs of tickets for the game by filling out tear sheets on specially priced cases of Dr. Pepper — the game’s co-sponsor. One pair of fans will compete at halftime to win a Chevy Silverado by throwing a football through a Valero gas tank or an oversized Dr. Pepper can.
Tostitos’ 13-year sponsorship of the Fiesta Bowl is a deal sparked by product affinity and regional identity. “The fact that it’s called the Fiesta Bowl fits with Tostitos’ southwestern heritage,” says Jeremy Bjork, Tostitos product manager. “It does a very good job of reinforcing our brand equity and a kind of snacking occasion.”
Tostitos pushes its Fiesta role with in-store product displays. Its presence at the event includes signage on each stadium tier and sponsoring what it bills as College Football’s Biggest Tailgate Party, replete with product sampling. Last year, it relaunched its Big Scoops and salsa products at the event.
It will try to top that with another product launch this year, according to Bjork. But it will be difficult to top Boise State’s overtime upset over highly favored Oklahoma last year. In the blur of corporate sponsorships, the game is still the thing.
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