In Depth
Who Spends The Most In Sponsorship: IEG Rankings Revealed
8/24/09: IEG’s list of the top U.S.-based sponsors is a bit different than our annual rankings of years past. For starters, it is being published in August rather than the beginning of the year, as those who have been patiently waiting already have noticed.
The reason for the delay is related to the second difference between this list of who spent what in ’08 and previous years’ compilations. The accounting of ’08 spending relies on information in IEG’s proprietary Sponsorship Intelligence Database, which has undergone a major upgrade in both the number of deals tracked and the depth of fee information. IEG SR’s editors wanted to ensure that information was complete before tabulating and publishing the list.
This is the first year the list relies almost exclusively on actual and estimated fee information from IEG’s deal database. In the past, IEG SR’s annual company spending estimates were equal parts data and extrapolation.
In part as a result of that change, the list itself is smaller than in years past. A total of 71 names appear on the roster of companies spending more than $15 million on sponsorship, compared to 96 on the ’07 list.
While some of that contraction stems from mergers (MillerCoors and Sirius XM are now two companies, not four, and Wachovia Corp. is now part of Wells Fargo) and some from companies dropping deals and cutting budgets (Burger King Corp.; Continental Airlines, Inc.; Pfizer Inc.; and Sara Lee Corp. among them), some also is the result of more accurate accounting of sponsorship budgets that are near the $15 million threshold.
Another significant distinction between this list and earlier versions is that it not only focuses on U.S.-based companies, but also solely on their U.S. spending.
Although it may sound contradictory, this change was made in order to be less U.S.-centric. It is part of a larger, in-progress shift in the way IEG tracks sponsorship spending–moving away from looking at spending activity by companies based in a region to tracking total spending in that region, regardless of where the sponsor is based.
This change in methodology accounts for some gargantuan drops in the estimated amount spent by companies with large international sponsorship portfolios.
Sponsors such as Anheuser-Busch, Visa, MasterCard, McDonald’s and IBM have spending estimates that are as much as $100 million lower than in the ’07 rankings. IOC TOP sponsors General Electric Co. and Lenovo Group Ltd. (the latter’s deal expired at the end of last year) no longer even make the list, since those international deals accounted for the vast majority of their sponsorship spending.
For that reason, we have not included a side-by-side comparison of the ’07 and ’08 rankings, since it is not apples to apples.
Newcomers to the top sponsor roster are Citigroup (number 18), State Farm (number 20), Bridgestone Americas (number 36), Mercedes-Benz USA (number 37), Berkshire Hathaway (number 57, and whose spending mostly stems from its GEICO property/casualty insurer in addition to other consumer brand subsidiaries), BP America (number 67) and BMW of North America (number 71).
The ’08 list offers an interesting snapshot of U.S. sponsorship spending at its peak, with the knowledge that the ’09 rankings will be significantly altered by the economic fallout that began in earnest late last year.
| Top U.S. Sponsors: Companies Spending More Than $15 Million |
| Amount |
Company |
2008 Rank |
| $360M-$365M |
PepsiCo, Inc. |
1 |
| $260M-$265M |
The Coca-Cola Co. |
2 |
| $245M-$250M |
General Motors Co. |
3 |
| $220M-$225M |
Anheuser-Busch Cos. |
4 |
| Nike, Inc. |
5 |
| $180M-$185M |
AT&T Inc. |
6 |
| $170M-$175M |
Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. |
7 |
| $150M-$155M |
MillerCoors LLC |
8 |
| $140M-$145M |
Ford Motor Co. |
9 |
| $120M-$125M |
Adidas North America, Inc. |
10 |
| $110M-$115M |
Sprint Nextel Corp. |
11 |
| $105M-$110M |
Bank of America Corp. |
12 |
| $85M-$90M |
The Home Depot, Inc. |
13 |
| $80M-$85M |
FedEx Corp. |
14 |
| $75M-$80M |
Chrysler Group LLC |
15 |
| $60M-$65M |
The Procter & Gamble Co. |
16 |
| $55M-$60M |
Motorola, Inc. |
17 |
| Citigroup Inc. |
18 |
| Wells Fargo & Co. |
19 |
| State Farm Cos. |
20 |
| $50M-$55M |
Lowe’s Cos. |
21 |
| $45M-$50M |
Sirius XM Radio Inc. |
22 |
| Mars, Inc. |
23 |
| Nestlé USA, Inc. |
24 |
| Canon U.S.A., Inc. |
25 |
| $40M-$45M |
Chevron Corp. |
26 |
| Time Warner Inc. |
27 |
| American Honda Motor Co. |
28 |
| Target Corp. |
29 |
| $35M-$40M |
Visa |
30 |
| MasterCard Int’l, Inc. |
31 |
| Verizon Communications, Inc. |
32 |
| Shell Oil Co. |
33 |
| J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. |
34 |
| United Parcel Service |
35 |
| Bridgestone Americas, Inc. |
36 |
| Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC |
37 |
| Alltel Corp. |
38 |
| $30M-$35M |
Eastman Kodak Co. |
39 |
| American Express Co. |
40 |
| American Airlines |
41 |
| Sony Corp. of America |
42 |
| Yum! Brands, Inc. |
43 |
| Diageo North America, Inc. |
44 |
| Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. |
45 |
| The Allstate Corp. |
46 |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. |
47 |
| Nationwide Financial Services, Inc. |
48 |
| $25M-$30M |
McDonald’s Corp. |
49 |
| Kellogg Co. |
50 |
| Microsoft Corp. |
51 |
| Samsung Electronics America, Inc. |
52 |
| Red Bull North America, Inc. |
53 |
| Sears Holdings Corp. |
54 |
| Office Depot, Inc. |
55 |
| Sunoco, Inc. |
56 |
| Berkshire Hathaway Inc. |
57 |
| $20M-$25M |
IBM Corp. |
58 |
| DuPont Co. |
59 |
| General Mills, Inc. |
60 |
| Hewlett-Packard Co. |
61 |
| ADT Security Services, Inc. |
62 |
| Best Buy Co. |
63 |
| Brown-Forman Corp. |
64 |
| $15M-$20M |
Johnson & Johnson |
65 |
| Sharp Electronics Corp. |
66 |
| BP America, Inc. |
67 |
| Ashland Inc. |
68 |
| Unilever United States, Inc. |
69 |
| Black & Decker Corp. |
70 |
| BMW of North America, LLC |
71 |
|
| Top U.S. Sponsors: Companies Spending More Than $15 Million, Sorted by Category |
| Company |
2008 Spending |
|
Automotive
|
| General Motors Co. |
$245M-$250M |
| Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. |
$170M-$175M |
| Ford Motor Co. |
$140M-$145M |
| Chrysler Group LLC |
$75M-$80M |
| American Honda Motor Co. |
$40M-$45M |
| Mercedes-Benz USA, LLC |
$35M-$40M |
| BMW of North America, LLC |
$15M-$20M |
|
Bank
|
| Bank of America Corp. |
$105M-$110M |
| Citigroup Inc. |
$55M-$60M |
| Wells Fargo & Co. |
$55M-$60M |
| J. P. Morgan Chase & Co. |
$35M-$40M |
|
Beverage
|
| PepsiCo, Inc. |
$360M-$365M |
| The Coca-Cola Co. |
$260M-$265M |
| Anheuser-Busch Cos. |
$220M-$225M |
| MillerCoors LLC |
$150M-$155M |
| Diageo North America, Inc. |
$30M-$35M |
| Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. |
$30M-$35M |
| Red Bull North America, Inc. |
$25M-$30M |
| Brown-Forman Corp. |
$20M-$25M |
|
Consumer Electronics
|
| Canon U.S.A., Inc. |
$45M-$50M |
| Sony Corp. of America |
$30M-$35M |
| Samsung Electronics America, Inc. |
$25M-$30M |
| Sharp Electronics Corp. |
$15M-$20M |
|
Credit Card
|
| Visa |
$35M-$40M |
| MasterCard Int’l, Inc. |
$35M-$40M |
| American Express Co. |
$30M-$35M |
|
Food
|
| Mars, Inc. |
$45M-$50M |
| Nestlé USA, Inc. |
$45M-$50M |
| Kellogg Co. |
$25M-$30M |
| General Mills, Inc. |
$20M-$25M |
|
Fuel
|
| Chevron Corp. |
$40M-$45M |
| Shell Oil Co. |
$35M-$40M |
| Exxon Mobil Corp. |
$30M-$35M |
| Sunoco, Inc. |
$25M-$30M |
| BP America, Inc. |
$15M-$20M |
|
Insurance
|
| State Farm Cos. |
$55M-$60M |
| The Allstate Corp. |
$30M-$35M |
| Nationwide Financial Services, Inc. |
$30M-$35M |
|
Personal Care
|
| The Procter & Gamble Co. |
$60M-$65M |
| Johnson & Johnson |
$15M-$20M |
| Unilever United States, Inc. |
$15M-$20M |
|
Retail
|
| The Home Depot, Inc. |
$85M-$90M |
| Lowe’s Cos. |
$50M-$55M |
| Target Corp. |
$40M-$45M |
| Office Depot, Inc. |
$25M-$30M |
| Sears Holdings Corp. |
$25M-$30M |
| Best Buy Co. |
$20M-$25M |
|
Telecommunications
|
| AT&T Inc. |
$180M-$185M |
| Sprint Nextel Corp. |
$110M-$115M |
| Motorola, Inc. |
$55M-$60M |
| Verizon Communications, Inc. |
$35M-$40M |
| Alltel Corp. |
$35M-$40M |
|