As the NBA season reaches the conference finals stage, current champions Cleveland Cavaliers and local tire giant Goodyear announce a new shirt sponsor partnership with an integrated campaign called ‘Drive’.
The centrepiece of the new multiyear tie-up will see the rubber company’s famous ‘Wingfoot’ logo adorn Cavs player uniforms from the 2017-18 season
Our neighbor. Now teammate.
In '17-18, we'll proudly wear @goodyear's Wingfoot logo as our jersey patch: https://t.co/LDAN3Ntx1f#MoreDriven pic.twitter.com/QceUocKoHG— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 15, 2017
The two Ohio-based organizations made the shirt sponsorship announcement, which was streamed live on Facebook, on 15 May at the team’s Quicken Loans Arena.
Our press conference with @goodyear is LIVE on https://t.co/9SQfecKhb2!
Watch now to learn about our first-ever jersey patch. #MoreDriven pic.twitter.com/7rPQG5PZro
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 15, 2017
The partnership, which both parties claim is built on the shared principles of drive, determination and a deep commitment to the community, aims to extend Ohio’s pride in the two organizations.
"We couldn’t be more proud to wear the @Goodyear Wingfoot logo and come together to champion Northeast Ohio.” –@lenkomoroski#MoreDriven pic.twitter.com/u5QSFY1qps
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 15, 2017
Launched in parallel to the PR-led live event was an integrated sponsorship campaign fronted by a commercial called ‘Drive’.
The spot comes in two versions: the core 67-second ‘Drive’ ad
and a 15-second cut-down called ‘Land Of the Driven’.
Both were first posted on 15 May and both carry the copy line: “Drive was born here. It’s in our blood. It’s who we are. It’s what we make. Neighbours by birth, teammates at last.”
The campaign also rolls out across both the brand’s and the team’s digital and social sites such as Twitter,
“In The Land of the driven, hard work is an obsession.”#MoreDriven | @goodyear x #Cavs pic.twitter.com/kQcDQ0XqCk
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 15, 2017
Instagram,
and Facebook
As well as the new co-branded collection,
The Exclusive Co-Branded Collection is available now @CavsTeamShop! @goodyear x @Cavs #MoreDriven pic.twitter.com/nMmgD6bevw
— Cavaliers Team Shop (@CavsTeamShop) May 15, 2017
another strand of the sponsorship will see the Cavs and Goodyear collaborate with Turner Sports, an NBA broadcast partner for more than 30 years and the ‘official media partner’ of the Cavs/Goodyear alliance, which will ‘bring to life the power of the jersey patch’ through custom branded content and advertising.
Plus there is a primary cause-led element to the tie-up too: this sees the team and its new shirt sponsor donate $1m to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education programmes in schools within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and the Akron Public School System.
"In partnership with @Goodyear, we'll donate $1M to support STEM programs in @CLEMetroSchools and @akronschools.” –@lenkomoroski#MoreDriven pic.twitter.com/jG2KmUSJ5N
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) May 15, 2017
Both organizations have a long history of supporting such community initiatives.
“This is a natural fit between two organizations rooted in Northeast Ohio whose strong brands have a global following,” said Goodyear chairman and CEO Rich Kramer.
“Goodyear has always been connected to the Cavs from our blimp coverage to the tremendous passion of our associates for the team, and we’re excited to make this relationship even stronger.”
“It was just meant to be that a global iconic brand like Goodyear is our neighbour headquartered in Akron, Ohio, and shares the same DNA of basketball, community purpose and drive for success as the Cavs,” adds Cavaliers CEO Len Komoroski.
“The treads and threads of this partnership are real, and we couldn’t be more proud to wear the Goodyear Wingfoot and come together to champion Northeast Ohio.”
“This partnership had to be something that our entire franchise, and specifically our team, believed in and can now be inspired by. Having the Wingfoot become part of the actual fabric of our identity does that,” continued Cavaliers GM David Griffin.
“The connection represents something deeper than basketball and is forged on a common platform to operate physically and culturally at the highest level. We can’t imagine a more appropriate partner than Goodyear, and the team will have a unique depth of pride wearing the Wingfoot on the court as we compete.”
Cavs super star LeBron James, himself famously born in Akron, Ohio, also commented on the deal: “Every Akron kid grew up seeing the Wingfoot in the sky on the blimp and feeling pride in our community. There is something special for me personally about having that logo on the Cavs uniform. Goodyear is also very supportive of the LeBron James Family Foundation. I can’t imagine a better situation with our new Cavs jersey than bringing together Nike and Goodyear, two companies that mean a lot to me and my family.”
“This is an amazing partnership that brings together organizations that are at the top of their game,” said Turner President David Levy.
“We are excited to work with Goodyear and the Cavs to celebrate the sports culture that binds together the Northeast Ohio community.”
Activative Comment:
There is a genuine synergy to this sponsorship as Goodyear and the Cavaliers are connected through shared community Akron/Cleveland, Ohio roots.
Plus, there are some linked hoops relationships too: back in the 1930s Goodyear was a founding member of the National Basketball League (a precursor to today’s NBA).
The Goodyear Wingfoots won the first NBL title in 1937 and captured the AAU National Championship in 1964 with a team that featured three Olympic Gold Medalists: Richard Davies, Pete McCaffrey, and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Larry Brown.
The NBA green lit team shirt logo deals after it initially debuted sponsorship patches on jerseys at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in February.
‘Jersey sponsorships provide deeper engagement with partners looking to build a unique association with our teams and the additional investment will help grow the game in exciting new ways,’ said NBA commissioner Adam Silver at the time.
‘We’re always thinking about innovative ways the NBA can remain competitive in a global marketplace, and we are excited to see the results of this three-year trial.’
The new NBA shirt patch partner rules kick-off at the start of the 2017/18 season, when, incidentally, Nike becomes the NBA’s official uniform supplier.
The Goodyear/Cavaliers deal and its accompanying campaign follows on from the first shirt logo sponsor partnership in the NBA between the Philadelphia 76ers and StubHub which was announced in May 2016 (see case study).
Whilst financial terms have not been officially announced, both the 76ers/StubHub and Cavaliers/Goodyear shirt patch deals have been estimated at between $3-$5m-per-year for the three year deals and both begin at the start of the 2017/18 season.
This latest deal is good news for the sponsorship activation space too, as we can (hopefully) look forward to more innovative work between the team and its sponsor following in the footsteps of previous stand-out Goodyear campaigns such as the excellent #AkronBorn which celebrated last year’s Cavaliers NBA Finals run (see case study) and its inventive #Blimpworthy college football work (see case study).
The sponsorship with the Cavaliers adds to Goodyear’s sports sponsorship stable which includes its role as the official tire supplier of NASCAR’s top three series, the title sponsor of the Goodyear Cotton Bowl Classic and an official sponsor of the College Football Playoff and Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Plus, of course, the company’s fleet of Goodyear Blimps provides aerial coverage of some of the very biggest sporting events around the world.
To some in the NBA in particular and in US sport in general, sponsor logos on jerseys might seem like the end of the world and the final straw in the commercial corruption of the sport they love.
But to fans, brands and rights owners across the sporting world this seems not just inevitable, but completely perplexing that it has taken the world’s leading free market capitalism country so very, very long to do what the rest of the world has been doing for decades.
The sums involved pale in comparison to shirt sponsor deals around the world.
>Manchester United’s 2014 six-year kit logo partnership with US car brand Chevrolet, for example, is worth a whopping £360m, or $70m per season (see case study).
Links:
Goodyear
https://www.youtube.com/user/Goodyear
https://www.facebook.com/goodyear
https://plus.google.com/u/0/113899834581674201550
https://www.instagram.com/cavs/
Cleveland Cavaliers
https://www.instagram.com/cavs/
https://www.facebook.com/Cavs/
https://uk.pinterest.com/cavs/
NBA
http://www.instagram.com/nba
http://nba.tumblr.com
