August 15th, 2006
Sponsors To Use 'Vignettes' On NFL Telecasts
By Michael McCarthy
USA Today
The NFL is inviting its 20 corporate backers to purchase sponsored “vignettes” that would be interspersed with game action during telecasts this season, says Peter Murray, the NFL’s vice president of partnership marketing.
Three companies have made agreements; more are coming, Murray says.
With viewers skipping or ignoring ads, sponsors are using other ways to get their names into live TV sports rather than being limited to traditional commercial breaks, says Ann Marie Dumais, vice president of Nielsen Sports, a unit of the company that tracks TV ratings.
The NFL has had sponsored messages during game action before. But worried about over-commercializing games, it ended them after the 1997 season. This time it will limit them to one 30-second, or two 15-second messages, a game, Murray says.
The league will charge sponsors about the same price they’d pay to buy a national 30-second TV spot, Murray says, or several hundred thousand dollars.
That means the NFL stands to reap tens of millions in advertising dollars over and above the $1 billion spent annually by sponsors and the $3.7 billion paid by TV networks to air its games.
The NFL may cut in its TV partners for a slice through a “joint venture” but will produce all of the content itself through NFL Films, Murray says.
The clips will focus on the game and the players, not the products, Murray says. “We want vignettes that provide added perspective on the game — or some historical context,” he says.
IBM is expected to sponsor highlights analyzing what makes a play, a player or a team special. FedEx probably will tout players selected online through its “FedEx Air & Ground” fan poll. EA Sports’ segment will mix graphic images from its video games and real footage.
Gary Ruskin of the watchdog group Commercial Alert says this type of marketing is yet another example of the spread of “ad creep” into everyday life.