The National Collegiate Athletic Association is working to sign nearly a dozen corporate partners to become a part of the NCAA’s marketing and media program.
The NCAA’s media program includes buys
on the CBS telecasts of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball tournaments plus placement in other media like radio, the Internet, grassroots marketing events and game programs. But it also includes
marketing and media rights to 86 other championships in the 22 other NCAA sports.
“This is not just a basketball buy,” said Jim Host, CEO of Atlanta-based marketer Host Communications. Other NCAA
sports include the College World Series (baseball), women’s softball, hockey, lacrosse, men’s and women’s soccer, women’s gymnastics and women’s volleyball.
“It’s an integrated, total marketing
package,” said Host. It’s also the first time everything has been so neatly bundled, an aggressive strategy that developed after the NCAA’s previous separate marketing. The NCAA still has separate
contracts with CBS and ESPN, although this new program allows for buys on both networks. Host Communications has been involved with advertising and promotion around NCAA championships since 1975.
Signed as the NCAA’s first top-level sponsor is the Coca-Cola Co., whose brands include soft drinks, Powerade sports drinks and Dasani spring water. Coca-Cola paid more than $500 million for the
11-year marketing and media program. Dasani will reportedly factor heavily into some of the marketing campaigns.
Host said Coca-Cola believes it can strategically integrate the NCAA program with
its other efforts in Olympic sports. “They’re very deeply involved in the Olympics,” he said.
The company said Coca-Cola will also align promotions toward NCAA brand attributes of higher education,
sportsmanship and leadership.
Host said the NCAA was looking for five more “corporate champions,” a multinational corporation that would have the kind of brand that would work well with the NCAA
brand and be an effective partner. The NCAA is looking for four to six “corporate partners,” which would be the same type of company but with a domestic reach.
The NCAA has about a dozen sponsor
categories, including automotive, insurance (including financial services) and credit card. Host said talks are going on with a number of corporations interested in the NCAA program.
“We intend to
sell them within 60 to 90 days,” he said.