Everlast has signed a global licensing deal with the International Boxing Association (AIBA) to supply gloves and headgear for Olympics or world championship events.
The first major promotional opportunity in the four-year pact is the upcoming world amateur boxing championships set for October in Chicago.
Everlast also sealed a deal last month as the official supplier of the USA Boxing team, stipulating that team members will use Everlast boxing gear at all U.S. events.
Everlast, adidas and Austrian-based Top Ten will each get promotional punch from the AIBA deal for the next world boxing championships, Olympics preliminaries and the Olympics championships. The AIBA will designate each company as the equipment supplier for one of the three events.
Everlast plans to work with its local Chicago retailers to promote the brand with in-store signage around the world championships, and a possible gift with purchase offer, said Andy Slate, the director of marketing for Everlast.
“Primarily we would leverage [the event] at local retail through visual merchandising,” Slate said.
Everlast will also look to stage an outdoor boxing exhibition in Chicago featuring USA team boxers. The event would be similar to a promotion it staged prior to the 2004 Olympics outside of a Modell’s retail location on 42nd Street in New York City.
The two deals provide Everlast with a powerful promotional combination.
The USA Boxing relationship enables Everlast to take shots of USA team boxers during training sessions for promotional images.
“Through that relationship, we’ll have more access to the boxers themselves,” Slate said.
Everlast also recently signed a deal with a Chinese licensee, ensuring that there will be plenty of its products in that pipeline around the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Network
