Published: September 05, 2008 12:39 pm      

LIFESTYLE: Marketers ready to cash in on NFL

The National Football League and the National Dairy Council are going to team up to promote picking up the pigskin — rather than pigging out — to students across the country.

A marketing pact between the two groups will be announced this week, and its goal will be to tackle childhood obesity by educating kids about exercise and good nutrition. The dairy council, working with the league, will deploy the five-year, $250 million national school health program.

While the NFL will pocket a sponsorship fee, “The vast majority (of the money) is really tied to running these programs in schools and also tied to the National Dairy Council providing grants to schools that adopt these programs,” NFL marketing director Peter O’Reilly said.

Part of the deal is that NFL players will make school visits to tout exercise. The groups will also create a “playbook” that outlines activity ideas such as flag football.

For this school year, the program will launch in about 50 schools in seven test markets. It will expand to about 40,000 schools in the next few years, says Jean Ragalie, council executive vice president.

That partnership is one of the 20 major marketer tie-ins the NFL has as it begins the regular season. The kickoff game was Thursday night, with the Buffalo Bills and most other teams starting their seasons today. The sponsors, including brands such as Pepsi, Samsung and Visa, collectively will spend more than $1 billion on NFL-themed promotions this year.

While most NFL advertisers target men 25 to 54, a league link also can be a way to reach women and specific demographic groups, such as Hispanics, says Mike Reisman, a principal at sponsorship marketing agency Velocity Sports & Entertainment, which works with several NFL sponsors.

The sport “has broad appeal,” he says. “The NFL and football are big parts of both small-town and urban America. People really get drawn to it.”

A 2005 study that appeared in the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science confirms the value in such sponsorships. The study, which analyzed the NFL, Major League Baseball, National Hockey league, National Basketball Association and Professional Golfers Association, studied 53 companies and found that when they announced major sponsorship deals with these leagues, the companies’ stock valuations went up an average $257 million. Official product sponsorships were worth the most, the study found.

As for this year, companies looking to score with tie-ins include:

• The Dairy Council: For five years, the group has worked with individual NFL teams to promote nutritionally sound fare such as low-fat and no-fat dairy products. The new agreement is broader and more “comprehensive,” says Ragalie. “We’ll work with all 32 teams plus the National Football League organization.”

• Pepsi: A special-edition “Lemon Pepsi NFL Kickoff” soft drink is Pepsi’s first beverage launch tied with its NFL sponsorship. Ads starring Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and Philadelphia Eagles safety Brian Dawkins tout NFL Kickoff, which will sell through November.

• Samsung: New TV ads play up NFL fan pride, as does a Web site promotion where consumers can send friends and family personalized, pre-recorded phone messages from celebrities.

Starting in mid-September, Samsung.com/HowISeeIt will let consumers order calls from famous folks such as singer Alice Cooper and morning show host Regis Philbin to help them “make their case” about why they need a new high-definition television.

• MillerCoors: The Coors Light and Coors Banquet brands will give away more than 200 pairs of NFL regular-season tickets in a promotion that runs through October. Specially marked packages will have an entry code that fans can text with their mobile phones or submit at CoorsLight.com. TV spots featuring former NFL coaches such as Brian Billick and Dennis Green will pitch the contest.

In addition, Bills fans who visit buffalobills.com can follow a “Super Fan” link to enter a contest sponsored by Coors Light in which trips to Super Bowl XLIII and the 2009 Pro Bowl are being given away. Coors — which signed a deal with the Bills in August to be a local team sponsor — is also running a contest in which a 21-ticket game/limousine package is being given away to the Monday night game in November against the Cleveland Browns.

Editor Paul Lane contributed to this report.