WTA title tag doubles to $25M; Nabisco inks Ripken for MLB Blast - Women's Tennis Association's corporate sponsorship price, Nabisco's Speciality Foods, Cal Ripken, Major League Baseball

Brandweek, March 9, 1998 by Terry Lefton

If you want to take Corel's place as title sponsor of the Women's Tennis Association tour, it will cost you $25 million. That may seem a bit pricey compared with the $12 million that Corel paid in rights fees, but WTA rights broker IMG, Cleveland, has repackaged the sponsorship in proportion with what it claims is a remarkable 11 billion impressions over a year's worth of TV broadcasts to more than 20 countries.

The WTA has increased in-game sponsor ID with the addition of sponsor-branded statistical and scoring updates, and an additional dedicated camera specifically designed to catch sponsor exposure vehicles, including banners, logo-bearing net posts and patches that all WTA athletes have been wearing on-court. Also included is a grass roots program, the usual hospitality and tickets and the tour's close working relationship with its players, a plus in netting talent to help a sponsor creatively leverage the tie.

Still, the rise in price will raise more than a few eyebrows in the corporate world. But new WTA CEO Bart McGuire insists the proposition is sound.

"When we sold the sponsorship last time the game of women's tennis was in real trouble," McGuire said. "Now, anyone would agree that the game is on a rise, because attendance and prize money is up. We have some really marketable athletes and I really feel [$25 million is] relatively inexpensive for a year-round property that is the most global of any women's sport."

Virtual signage is not part of the package per se, but the WTA is not averse to the concept if it is high on a potential title sponsor's wish list, McGuire said.

So who's the ideal replacement for Corel? "Simply put, it should be someone with broad international reach and obviously someone that wants to be synonymous with women's tennis," said Stephanie Tolleson, senior vice president in charge of women's sports at IMG.

Nabisco's Specialty Foods unit is going back to its "favorites" theme. The company has signed Cal Ripken to support its involvement in MLB's All-Star themed FSI in which its A1, Parkay, Wheat Thins, LifeSavers, Ritz, ChipsAhoy, Triscuit, Planters and Milk Bone brands will be billed as "All-Star Favorites." Nabisco will use life-sized standees of Ripken in a massive POP effort.

Nabisco gets the majority of the front page of the FSI, which will feature a photo of Ripken. Offers inside the FSI include a $5 rebate with UPCs from all of the Nabisco brands involved and a possible MLB All-Star Game chewy toy from Milk Bone. Nabisco and other FSI advertisers get the use of All-Star Game logos and collective marks from June 1 through the July 8 Midsummer Classic. The 12-page News America FSI drops June 21 to 60 million homes.

The company will also bring Ripken to May's FMI show, one of a string of appearances at trade hospitality functions.

Working together for the first time in memory, if not history, Major League Baseball, the NBA, NFL, NHL, their players associations and five trading card manufacturers; are joining for a national sweepstakes at Kmart that offers trips for four to all of the leagues' all-star games. Consumers buying three packs or one box of MLB, NBA, NFL or NHL licensed cards from Pinnacle, Donruss, Fleer/Skybox, Pacific, Topps or Upper Deck get a trading card poster with entry form. The contest is under the auspices of the newly-formed Sports Card Association. Support is via POP, direct mail to 7 million homes and two placements in Kmart's circular, which has a circ of 74 million.

Seattle Supersonics all-star Vin Baker is getting some time in the limelight now that he's on a winning team. Continuing its "PlayStation Athletic Department" ad theme for its sports software titles, Sony Computer Entertainment this week breaks ads with Baker touting the NBA Shootout game. Buys are on NBA programming on TNT and NBC. Another "Athletic Department" spot, via TBWA Chiat/Day, Venice, Calif., will break in April starring Florida Marlins' Gary Sheffield and supporting the MLB 99 game. Sony Computer Entertainment senior director of product marketing Peter Dille said each game was receiving "a couple of million" in support.

Meanwhile, Nintendo has signed first-year NBA All-Star Kobe Bryant, still a teenager, to an endorsement deal and rebranded its NBA Courtside to Kobe Bryant's NBA Courtside.

Some of the "shoulder" programming the NFL is requiring its newly inked and re-inked TV partners to run has come to light. ESPN2 will run a daily Football Tonight NFL news and highlights show during the season and CBS is working with the league to develop a year-round youth-oriented football show a la NBC's NBA Inside Stuff Expect the league to package this kind of programming with its corporate sponsorship deals.