In Depth
Top Sponsors List: Who Spent What In ’07
Economic concerns most likely responsible for list not growing in ’07.
1/21/08: As reported in our annual
sponsorship spending forecast, ’07 was a record year for industry expenditures.
Turning to examine where a large portion of those dollars came from, IEG SR’s annual ranking of the top U.S.-based sponsors saw some significant movement by the industry’s major players, but not an overall expansion of the number of big spenders.
The roster of companies spending more than $15 million on sponsorship held steady last year at 96, the first year ever that the list did not grow, albeit the increase in both ’02 and ’04 was by only one company.
Three newcomers joined the list in ’07, but their appearance was offset by the absence of three previous deep-pocketed players.
Economic Conditions, Mergers, Divestitures Impact Sponsorship’s Upper Echelon
Last year saw more volatility than usual among the highest levels of corporate sponsors.
Woes besetting the domestic auto industry played a large role in shaking up the top 10 list of spenders. Previous number three General Motors dropped to number five as it held the line on sponsorship budgets. For the same reason, Ford slipped from eighth to 10th on the list.
As DaimlerChrysler Corp. split, the remaining U.S. entity–Chrysler LLC–dropped from number 7 to number 15 absent the inclusion of spending for Mercedes-Benz and other Daimler nameplates.
Taking its place among the top 10 (at number 9)–and reflecting the differing fortunes of foreign automakers versus the U.S. Big Three–is Toyota Motor Sales, which continued its rapid rise up the list.
Having moved from number 42 to number 22 in ’06, Toyota again dramatically increased spending last year, doubling the sponsorship budget for luxury line Lexus and supporting its factory involvement in NASCAR.
Another company leapfrogging into the top 10 is AT&T, Inc., which moved from number 16 to number 7. The rise reflects the reconstitution of AT&T Corp.–which gave up its top 10 position in ’00–as “the new AT&T” and includes the company’s taking over the sponsorship inventories of the former Cingular Wireless, LLC (previously number 31) and BellSouth Corp. (previously number 85).
All of that activity above it meant that Visa slid from number 10 to number 11, despite increasing its spending from roughly $120 million to $145 million–mostly on the strength of its new FIFA World Cup deal. The loss of the World Cup sponsorship by MasterCard created a bigger than ever spending gap between the two credit card rivals, with MasterCard dropping in the rankings from 12th to 18th.
In addition to Cingular and BellSouth’s departure from the list, Ameriquest Capital Corp.–which had already dropped from number 34 to number 91 last year–no longer appears as it gave up its title of the MLB Texas Rangers ballpark in the wake of the subprime-mortgage market collapse.
Taking the place of those three companies were insurer AIG (number 46), Red Bull North America (number 57) and DirecTV (number 90).
The vast majority of AIG’s spending is outside the U.S., with the bulk of it going to its blockbuster shirt sponsorship of U.K. soccer giant Manchester United. Red Bull’s and DirecTV’s appearances in the rankings are predicated on significant increases in spending behind NASCAR sponsorships. Red Bull’s figures do not reflect parent Red Bull GmbH’s investment in ownership of its Sprint Cup team.