ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--UPS (NYSE:UPS) today announced a significant expansion of its collegiate sports sponsorship program with the addition of new multi-year agreements with IMG College and the Big Ten and Pac-12 conferences.
The sponsorships provide UPS with access to college sports fans in top markets across the country as well as multi-tiered marketing relationships with many of the nation’s elite collegiate athletic programs.
In 2010, UPS announced sponsorship agreements with the National Collegiate Athletic Association and Southeastern Conference, becoming the official logistics partner for both in addition to obtaining marketing and licensing rights and hospitality opportunities at championship games and other events.
“Through these new alliances, UPS secures one of the largest sponsorship profiles in Division I college sports, opening the door for exciting B-to-B growth opportunities with the conferences and individual schools along with an unprecedented range of marketing, advertising, branding and hospitality assets,” said Ron Rogowski, UPS vice president, sponsorships and events. “These partnerships also give us a compelling communications platform to share the message that whether you’re a small business owner or a championship football coach, UPS’s mastery of logistics can help you succeed.”
The new relationship with IMG College, a division of IMG Worldwide, provides UPS a national footprint with local reach through sponsorship opportunities with 68 IMG university partners across the country. UPS will receive rights to a vast array of marketing assets, channels and intellectual property to reach college sports fans, game day activation at 250 college venues, high impact media across TV, radio and digital channels and customized integrated marketing platforms aligned to UPS business objectives.
Also under the agreement, UPS will enjoy exclusivity for all marketing and promotional rights in the shipping, freight and logistics category. UPS will become the official logistics, package delivery and retail business services provider in all forms of sponsor recognition related to the schools, including on-campus, in-stadium, licensing, and broadcast, print and web outlets. The marketing rights and business development opportunities also extend to The UPS Store, which will allow the company to activate its sponsorship at a local level, campus by campus.
“This is truly an historic announcement in the annals of sports marketing,” said George Pyne, President of Sports and Entertainment at IMG Worldwide. “IMG has built the first national college sports marketing platform allowing blue chip brands like UPS to reach the largest and most affluent fan base in sports. We’ve assembled the intellectual property, marketing assets, media channels and service infrastructure for one-stop shopping, which was never previously available. We are confident UPS will be the first of many national brands to capture the pride and passion of college sports through this new national marketing opportunity.”
UPS’s new agreements with the Big Ten and Pac-12 provide similar marketing rights with each conference, including category exclusive rights for UPS and The UPS Store, tickets and hospitality for UPS customers and employees at conference championship events and key individual school games throughout the year.
“We’re extremely excited to add the premier college sports marketing organization and two of the most highly regarded collegiate athletic conferences to our sponsorship portfolio,” added Rogowski. “This expansion allows UPS to extend its college sports presence to the full collegiate landscape – on campus, through alumni associations and the athletic programs appealing to the 172 million college sports fans across the country.”
About the Big Ten:
The Big Ten Conference is an association of world-class universities whose member institutions share a common mission of research, graduate, professional and undergraduate teaching and public service. Founded in 1896, the Big Ten has sustained a comprehensive set of shared practices and policies that enforce the priority of academics in student-athletes’ lives and emphasize the values of integrity, fairness and competitiveness. The broad-based athletic programs of the 12 Big Ten institutions sponsor 298 teams competing for championships in 25 official conference sports, 12 for men and 13 for women. Big Ten universities provide in excess of $120 million in athletic scholarship aid to more than 9,500 men and women student-athletes. For more information, visit www.bigten.org.
About the Pac-12:
The Pac-12 Conference has a tradition as the “Conference of Champions,” earning 442 NCAA Championships, including more than 175 team titles over the past 20 years, and has led the nation in NCAA Championships in 45 of the last 51 years. The Conference comprises 12 leading U.S. universities: The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of Utah, the University of Washington, and Washington State University. Conference offices are located 25 miles east of San Francisco in Walnut Creek, CA. For more information on the Conference’s programs, member institutions, and Commissioner Larry Scott, go to www.pac-12.org.
About IMG College:
IMG College is the leading multimedia, marketing and licensing/brand management company in America representing more than 200 of the nation’s top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 88 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and many of the most prestigious colleges and universities in the country. Headquartered in Winston Salem, N.C., IMG College employs 700 people in nearly 100 offices throughout the U.S. with annual sales of nearly $450 million. IMG College is the leader in capturing consumer devotion to college sports through partnership opportunities in multimedia rights, licensing, events and hospitality, marketing, stadium and arena development, stadium seating solutions, ticketing, sales, and consulting.
IMG College produces nearly 30,000 hours of radio programming on the largest sports network in the country, manages nearly 5,000 hours of local television programming, is the leading publisher of college sports publications, and is the largest manager of university athletic websites. IMG College is a division of IMG Worldwide, a global sports, fashion and media business. For more information, please visit www.imgworld.com
About UPS:
UPS (NYSE:UPS) is a global leader in logistics, offering a broad range of solutions including the transportation of packages and freight; the facilitation of international trade, and the deployment of advanced technology to more efficiently manage the world of business. Headquartered in Atlanta, UPS serves more than 220 countries and territories worldwide. The company can be found on the Web at UPS.com and its corporate blog can be found at blog.ups.com. To get UPS news direct, visit pressroom.ups.com/RSS.