Where Sponsorship Analysts Disagree - The BP Crosstown Cup
Posted: 4/27/2010 12:41:30 PM by
Jon Kander | with 0 comments
There are two sides to every argument. My colleague, Shelley Fasulko, lauded BP’s sponsorship of the Cubs-White Sox Crosstown Classic (now called the BP Crosstown Cup). Where Shelley saw a brilliant creation of new assets, I saw blatant corporate pandering and over-commercialization of a great event.
For those who don’t know – the BP Crosstown Cup is a ‘major award’ presented to the winner of the Chicago White Sox and Chicago Cubs season series. As Shelley points out, the Cubs and White Sox form one of baseball’s greatest rivalries and each team’s fans are incredibly passionate about beating the rival team. Under normal circumstances, I would strongly recommend a company using sponsorship to tap into something people are passionate about (I’m the same guy who recommended sponsoring the NBA Trade Deadline as a unique way to tap into the NBA fans passion). However, the partnership needs to be done in a tasteful manner and make sense for both the teams and corporate brand.
Companies sponsoring rivalries is not unique, and several college rivalries have been branded by major corporations for quite some time. For example, State Farm sponsors a number of college rivalries (Arizona State vs. Arizona, Texas vs. Texas A&M, Illinois vs. Missouri football game). In the instance of State Farm’s sponsorship of the ASU-Arizona rivalry, State Farm donates $20,000 to each school’s educational fund and provides additional exposure to non-major sports. State Farm is able to use these types of sponsorships as part of its overall philanthropic effort to fund college scholarships and expand educational opportunities. BP’s sponsorship of the Cubs-White Sox rivalry does not appear to fit into any overall platform. A better strategy might be to sponsor all major MLB rivalries (New York Subway Series, Cleveland Indians – Cincinnati Reds, etc.). This would give BP a nationwide platform to activate against instead of focusing on one market.
Outside of this deal, I am a big fan of BP’s overall corporate sponsorship strategy. BP Castrol’s sponsorship of UEFA and FIFA and the development of the Castrol Performance Index to leverage those partnerships have been incredibly successful. I also believe that BP’s sponsorship of the IOC and USOC also appears to fit into its global strategy. I am not necessarily against a company sponsoring the White Sox-Cubs rivalry; it just has to make sense for the teams, their fans and the company (simply looking at Twitter will tell you where most Cubs and White Sox fans stand on the issue).
While I agree with Shelley that creating new inventory can be a smart way to generate incremental sponsorship revenue, it needs to be done in a tasteful manner. The BP Crosstown Cup simply comes across as over-commercialization of a great rivalry, and solely sponsoring the Chicago Crosstown Classic does not appear to fit into BP’s current sponsorship strategy.
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Filed under: sports, strategic philanthropy, assets