The major sports leagues of today have become archeologists, sifting through the dirt of the fallen to find nuggets of branding and marketing concepts. The fact that these upstarts were Davids against Goliaths oftentimes meant that they could think way out of the box in marketing, sponsorship and branding concepts, all in the name of PR and garnering fan and media awareness.

What are NFL sponsors doing for fantasy football players? Surprisingly, the answer varies greatly from one sponsor to the next. You may have to get used to dealing with social media and fragmented campaigns -- but, then again, that is already the general trend in consumer marketing.

This is particularly true in sports marketing, as the battlefield for the attention of potential sponsors and fans has expanded to make the pursuit of time for thoughtful deliberation an often elusive aspiration. But the fact that we suffer cultural attention deficit disorder doesn't mean that we've regressed to the point that we can no longer resonate with the audiences that we are trying to influence.

There are two key questions to be answered: Can the sponsor brand foster genuine engagement with the members of the particular sports tribes? And, do the tribe members accept that brand as a part of their tribal existence?