Title Sponsor Omissions
Fall means football season for many in America. The ISC has been working with media in an area that is a grave disservice to sponsors: title sponsor omissions.
For the next few months, major media Web sites will omit the title sponsors of the three BCS bowls that have title sponsors. One can halfway understand the reasoning for omitting the title sponsors within the text of an article after the bowl has already been mentioned six or seven times. It isn’t right to do so, but we can understand why it is done.
There is no sound reason for these Web sites to omit these Bowl’s title sponsors in a chart that displays and updates the scores for weeks running. The reasons these Web sites have given to the ISC for doing so are “Sponsors don’t matter and no one cares about them”, “We don’t share in the money that title sponsors pay the properties”, “We don’t think the bowls should have sponsors”, “We shouldn’t give the sponsors free advertising”.
The irony of the practice is that these sites that omit the sponsors are financially dependent upon brands to advertise and sponsor their sites. The sites claim to be safehavens for brands – a medium of value for brands and their messaging. Why do accept the unfair practice of omission? The ISC has worked with some of the major media and has had success in convincing them to include title sponsors in the charts. Any media including title sponsors should be recognized and commended for doing so. The sponsorship industry needs to support journalists and bridge the value awareness gap.
The NCAA including the Bowls has created some of America’s premium fan experiences. The industry needs to help the media understand that fans suffer when sponsors are alienated. It becomes a positioning problem. When sponsors are omitted, they can be perceived by fans as “less than important”. These corporations have contracted to be a part of the property and in these cases are actually integrated into the Bowl logos.
When you see any sponsor omitted, please contact the guilty party and share your concern as well as sharing the incident with the ISC.
When any sponsor is depositioned, it negatively affects all sponsors. This year sponsorship was under attack. If the industry wants to defend its value, start with protecting sponsors and their importance.