Visa's Off to the Races with NBC; Hoops' Swoopes in Nike/ESPN Coup - includes multiple sports promotions and tie-ins - Brief Article

Brandweek, April 30, 2001 by Hilary Cassidy

Visa's sponsorship of the Triple Crown, recently renewed through 2005, will kick into high gear with the May 5 Kentucky Derby. Visa will be the title broadcast sponsor of the Visa Triple Crown as NBC will televise the three-race series for the first time.

Along with title TV sponsorship, Visa will get a 30-second in-broadcast promotional message. As in recent years, Visa will stage the Visa Triple Crown Challenge, dangling a $5 million bonus for a horse that wins the Derby Preakness and Belmont Stakes. Dedicated ads will also run during racing programming on ESPN and NBC. Triple Crown promos supporting card usage and the Visa Check Card are in place at some member banks.

In an effort to reach new audiences, races will start 30 minutes later (6:04 p.m.). For the Derby and Preakness, NBC will sandwich the races between its NBA pregame show and a playoff matchup. The Belmont will have the French Open as its lead-in.

Becky Saeger, Visa evp-brand marketing, said the races are a good spring vehicle: "If there's a contender, you get excitement through that, but Visa is the only card accepted at these races. We know if we can tie our brand promise of acceptance to a very visible property it gives us extra bang for our buck."

Injured WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes has renewed her deal with Nike, a long-time relationship that led to the first signature sneaker for a female athlete back in 1995. The partnership, through the 2004 Olympics, includes a new shoe to bow in August. Swoopes also will be tied to Nike's women's division marketing programs.

In another coup, the Houston Comets forward will be the first female athlete featured in ESPN's "Which SportsCenter do you watch?" print campaign from Wieden + Kennedy New York. The ad breaks in June and shows her putting on makeup in a hotel bathroom with the TV tuned to SportsCenter.

Despite her season-ending knee injury Swoopes will likely do some WNBA game commentary and continue promo appearances for the league, said Tom George, svp-athlete marketing at Octagon, which brokered the Nike and ESPN deals.

Wendy's is on its way out as an NHL sponsor after a four-year stint. Ed Home, NHL Enterprises president, said Wendy's couldn't make the media and grass roots commitment to grow the sport that the NHL is now asking of its sponsors.

The league is in talks with another fast feeder to fill the vacancy.

With the NHL exploring renewals with other partners, such as Nortel, Horne said marketers are tracking their dollars more closely.

"But in large regard that's an opportunity for us," he said. "We position these as partnerships...not sponsorships. We acknowledge our partners have needs they have to meet."

Omega, which counts PGA Tour pro Ernie Els as an endorser, has signed a deal to become the official watch and timing system of the PGA and Senior PGA Tours. First-time winners on both tours will receive a specially engraved watch, while commemorative watches also will be presented to winners of other select events. Omega time pieces will be integrated into the tour's timing system and its Tournament Players Clubs network will feature Omega clocks.

Omega will add the PGA Tour logo to its ongoing print campaign featuring Els that runs in pubs like Golf Magazine and Forbes.

Envision, part of the Anschutz Entertainment Group, is planning its first TV project, Lombardi's Legends, this summer. The effort will reunite players like Paul Hornung and Bart Starr from Super Bowls I and II at Lambeau Field and serve as a vehicle through which Lombardi's Legends Foundation, a charitable organization in the Green Bay area, will be announced. The 60-minute reunion special will air around the Super Bowl.

Extra innings: Kirsten LaMotte from dir-sports marketing and promos at Sports Illustrated to acct supervisor-Millsport int'l. division ... Blake Edwards from Arizona Diamondbacks vp-sales to vp-sponsorships and Western regional sales for MLB Advanced Media ... John Ram from sr dir-NBA retail partnerships to Canadian lifestyle brand Roots, overseeing wholesale sales.