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Biz blog - Playbooks & Profits - You know how tortilla chip companies
The Oregonian, January 21, 2007
By Helen Jung
You know how tortilla chip companies and insurance companies and even tire manufacturers are buying naming rights to sports events as a way of advertising? Well, get ready for more.
According to the IEG Sponsorship Report, North American companies are expected to spend about $9.9 billion this year on sports events sponsorships, up about 10.8 percent from the $8.94 billion they spent in 2006.
That's because companies are finding that they're having a harder time reaching consumers through traditional advertising, said William Chipps, senior editor for the report by IEG, a Chicago-based sponsorship research firm. In these Tivo-recording, iPodcast-downloading days, people are simply pressing fast-forward and skipping the ads.
Sports events aren't the only beneficiaries of companies' spending. Corporate America also sponsors entertainment tours, charitable causes, the arts and festivals. All told, companies are expected to shell out nearly $15 billion in 2007.
Some of this increase stems from companies paying more for events, but much of it comes from a larger number of companies trying this out and identifying events to which they can attach their names, Chipps said. Could the neighborhood bake sale brought to you by Allstate be far behind?
Staff writer Helen Jung covers Nike, Adidas, Columbia Sportswear and other athletic apparel companies for The Oregonian. She also keeps a blog at playbooksandprofits.blogs.oregonlive.com