There was a time wayyy back in the 1990’s when the New York Knicks would be yearly contenders for the NBA Eastern Conference Championship and when the team played on the road in places like Indianapolis or Philadelphia or Houston, you would tune in and on the new sideline rotating signage you would see ads for New York restaurants. Were they looking to cultivate an audience travelling to New York? No, they were looking to creatively capture the attention of millions of Knicks die hard fans who were tuning in on MSG Network, since they were able to buy relatively cheap and available local inventory from the home team that they had not sold. It was usually last minute and at a discount, but restaurants like Smith and Wollensky’s found it a smart buy to the audience they wanted to reach back home.
Now today that type of targeted last minute buy may seem archaic. After all between digital signage, virtual signage and now they hyper targeted advent of streaming, the savvy advertiser is able to reach not just the mass, but the custom consumer on any device at any time while he, she or they are watching.
However there are still some traditional effective and even disruptive ways that brands can insert themselves into an exposure filled narrative in front of a large audience, and arguably the biggest opportunity may be going on this week on ESPN.
It is a well placed patch.
Patches as we have seen for several years in the NBA and WNBA, the NWSL and MLS, and now the NHL and MLB, have become another inventory option for professional team sports in North America, much like patches and kit sales have been in soccer for years. They are carefully curated, highly valuable pieces of real estate that are used to either enhance a sponsorship, or open up a new window for a brand looking to enter the market in a unique way. Almost all patches are season long in team sports, although the NHL has allowed home and away patches on uniforms to vary interest and inventory.
That’s on the team sports side, but at the US Open, some of the best “patch deals” and “hat deals” remain a one off enterprise that the well timed have taken advantage of not with the superstar, but with the opponent of the superstar as well as their support staff, who often times find their way on to the broadcast because of the consistent placement of coaches and families in the same player box in the lower stands throughout the tournament.
Did you noticed a patch on Dominic Koepfer or Jalena Ostapenko,? It wasn’t Nike or Under Armour or Gatorade, it was a Montana based advanced analytics company named FICO. Not a US Open sponsor, not really a big sports sponsor, but a brand looking disrupt and find its way into an awareness conversation in a very unique way. Those patch deals, along with deal that came up with Duracell was done by The Leverage Agency, which has made a science out of the quick patch sale, whether it is in tennis, golf or even horse racing.
It’s not an easy thing to do. You have to have the right brand with the right potential athlete (many apparel brands like Nike and adidas do not allow patches on their athletes) at the right price, and it all has to be sized, measured for visibility, and then accepted for use, all usually within just a few hours. If it works, as it has for other highly visible opponents playing in Arthur Ashe Stadium (more than the outer courts) the exposure and the door opening for a brand like FICO can be really strong. If it is done poorly…the patch is the wrong color, in the wrong place or in some cases not attached properly, the deal can not deliver. (Ironically we have seen patch issues in MLB this season with pitchers. Sometimes a lefthanded pitcher on the mound is wearing a patch on his right shoulder vs his eft, which limits the visibility when he is on the mound. It too is a work in progress).
Back to tennis, you bank on a long match for added time. If it’s a quick in and out, all the time spent can go up in smoke. Also as insurance you may see elements like hats in other highly visible places, as other ways to get in on the broadcast action in case the patch falls short of exposure.
Is it a bit of a gamble? Sure. Is it a way to test the market as a short stay to see where a partnership could go? Yes. Do you need someone who really knows the sport, the personalities and the timing to give a patch program a chance at success? For sure. It is not for the uninitiated or the outsider. It is a business of knowledge and relationships.
So as you watch a high level tennis event, or some times a golf event, and you see the unusual brand pop up on your screen, do a little digging. Odds are they are looking for your attention and the chance you may want to know more about them, even if they may not be in the mainstream on the sports side.
FICO and Duracell scored during week one of The Open, eventhough they were on the losing side of the court.
