• by Karl Greenberg , April 24, 2009

When the New York Yankees launched into their season on April 16, the new stadium had lots of Ford Motor signage touting the automaker's trucks and sport utility vehicles. Ford is now Official Truck and SUV of the New York Yankees.

The deal -- via Ford Motor's dealer group in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut and the ball club -- makes the Dearborn, Mich. automaker the second auto brand to link with the team this year.

Audi in March inked a similar deal with the Yankees, making the Volkswagen USA sibling official luxury vehicle of the team. That arrangement puts Audi's name on the Yankees Club, a membership restaurant and viewing area in left field.

Ford's northeast dealer group, with over 100 dealers, has had a much less formal arrangement with the team; Derek Jeter has been a spokesperson for Tri-State Ford for the past couple of years. The new program, largely paid for by the dealer group, puts Ford branding in a number of spots in the new stadium.

In addition to the vehicle displays at the stadium, Ford gets a variety of on-field ads and signage; plus LED-board ads, diorama signs on the concourse, a brand presence during promotional day and exposure in Yankees magazine and Yankees Yearbook as well as consumer sweepstakes and other branding programs.

There will also be Yankees/Ford co-branded radio and TV regional advertising by the Tri-State dealer group's agency Retail First, a part of WPP's Team Detroit.

The dealer group also sponsors the New Jersey Devils NHL team, and has an advertising presence at Newark's Prudential Center as part of that arrangement. The group also sponsors the New York Giants.

Mindshare, now a part of Retail First, did the media buy for the Yankee's and Ford arrangement and Retail First did media planning.