Join Forces with Top Brands at Portada Live, NYC, Sept, 19, 2024!

Sport Marketing Bits: Clorox inks SUM Deal, Chivas USA, ESPN, The Sporting Nation

The  latest news in Sports Marketing. Clorox to sponsor U.S. and Mexican National Teams. ESPN reigns in digital audience rankings, MLS buys Chivas USA and will rebrand it, TheSporting Nation partners with Askmen.com...and more.

Content

The  latest news in (Hispanic) Sports Marketing. Clorox to sponsor U.S. and Mexican National Teams. ESPN reigns in digital audience rankings, MLS buys Chivas USA and will rebrand it, TheSporting Nation partners with Askmen.com.

Do you want to become a Soccer Marketing Expert? DOWNLOAD Portada’s 2014 Soccer Marketing Guide (free registration required)!

Clorox inks SUM Deal

Sports MarketingThe Clorox Company reached an agreement with Soccer United Marketing (SUM), the commercial arm of Major League Soccer (MLS), making it an official partner of the U.S. Soccer Federation and the Federacion Mexicana de Futbol (FMF – also known as the Mexican National Team). Under the terms of the agreement with SUM, Clorox will support the U.S. Men’s and Women’s National Teams through sales and marketing efforts highlighting the company’s Clorox, Kingsford, Hidden Valley and Glad brands. It will support the Mexican Men’s Team in the United States through similar efforts involving the Clorox, Kingsford and Glad brands.”Our company’s affiliation with the sport of soccer is a natural fit for us because we share a strong appeal among families,” says Benno Dorer, executive vice president and chief operating officer – Cleaning, International and Corporate Strategy. “With soccer’s legions of followers from around the world —myself included — we hope this partnership will enable us to build awareness of our brands with the sport’s hugely loyal, enthusiastic and diverse fan base.”The partnership involves sales and marketing efforts along with in-store support from major retailers. Activities under way this year include TV ads for Kingsford charcoal and Glad trash bags; custom packaging; a consumer sweepstakes for a chance to win up to $25,000; and in-store ads, coupon offers and messaging at point of sale.”Ahead of this year’s events in Brazil, there has never been a better time to align with the sport of soccer,” says David Wright, senior vice president of global sponsorship for Soccer United Marketing. “We’re excited that the family of Clorox products is now a member of our soccer family.”

 

ESPN, the most widely trafficked U.S. sport site in January

ESPN held the top spot of the most trafficked sport site in January 2014 for the fifth month in a row. It will be interesting to see if it can hold that position in February (Fox had the exclusive for the streaming of the Superbowl which took place in February). ESPN digital properties include  ESPN.com, WatchESPN and the SportsCenter app. ESPN captured 32% of the sports category and 41.3 million fans used ESPN mobile properties. With an audience of more than 115 million unique users ESPN, almost tripled the audience of the next contender: Yahoo-Sports-NBC-Sport Network.  Bleacher Report/Turner Sport Network came in third with an audience of more than 34 million uniques. In terms of minutes per visit ESPN also topped the list with 83 minutes per user followed by Cinesport with 55 minutes (see table below).

Rank

Average minute audience

Share of category audience

Total unique visitor(000)

Minutes per user

Sport Category

361,422

100.0%

173,450

93.0

1

ESPN

115,284

31.9%

62,007

83.0

2

Yahoo Sports-NBC Sports Network

44,347

12.3%

57,890

34.2

3

Bleacher Report-Turner Sports Network

34,662

9.6%

47,418

32.6

4

NFL Internet Group

31,893

8.8%

39,268

36.3

5

Sporting News Media/Perform Sports

29,856

8.3%

29,430

45.3

6

FOXSports.com on MSN

21,913

6.1%

46,807

20.9

7

CBS Sports

17,443

4.8%

30,917

25.2

8

USA Today Sports Media Group

15,125

4.2%

41,593

16.2

9

CineSport

9,744

2.7%

7,890

55.1

10

MLB

8,597

2.4%

11,091

34.6

Source: ESPN Research & Analytics.Analysis of comScore multi-platform(US)data(persons +18),January 2014.

MLS buys Chivas USA and will rebrand team, Rodriguez new president

Major League Soccer has purchased Chivas USA, its worst-performing franchise, from owners Jorge Vergara and Angelica Fuentes. MLS will operate the club for now, with an eye on selling the team in coming months to an ownership group that will keep it in the Los Angeles area. The team’s name will remain Chivas USA through the 2014 season, and will be rebranded for 2015. “We will continue to ramp up discussions that we have been having for a number of months with some investors,” Don Garber, Commissioner of Major League Soccer and CEO of SUM, said during a conference call with reporters last Thursday, though he did not immediately clarify just who those investors are. In addition, MLS  announced that Nelson Rodriguez  has been appointed president of Chivas USA, effective immediately. Rodríguez will oversee all aspects of Chivas USA’s business and sporting operations while MLS continues its search for a new ownership group.

TheSportingNation partners with Askmen.com

The SportingNation.com ,a digital sports property targeting the bicultural Hispanic, recently started to contribute  sports content to the Latino-focused site Hermanos, part of the Askmen.com network.  The SportingNation aims to  tell great stories from across all of the major professional sports and spotlight the contributions, achievements and awesomeness of Latino athletes. In addition, the Los Angeles based digital media property founded by Robert Rodriguez intends to provide opportunities for Latino sports journalists looking to find their way in the ultra-competitive sports industry.

Do you want to become a Soccer Marketing Expert? DOWNLOAD Portada’s 2014 Soccer Marketing Guide (free registration required)!

[ctahfb]

Meet & Learn
Portada Live Events

Popular Now

Boost Your Sales

Who is Moving Now

The Latest

Get our e-letters packed with news and intelligence!