Marketing & Sponsorship

After discerning key marketing insights from Dr. Tyler and Dr. Cobbs' Know Rivalry research lab, and with consideration of MLS’s unique ability to deliver brand awareness at a league and club levels through the ownership model, students will identify several local markets that present strong fan interest in rivalries and could pay off greatly for a smart new sponsor. With the Heineken Rivalry Week program currently in use as a benchmark, students will apply the case theory to prospect a new food-at-home sponsorship category. The case provides an engaging and differentiated narrative to team students ways in which they can apply MLS rivalry research in a responsible way, to sustain the best parts of fans’ passions while leveraging a new partner to promote the narratives of MLS rivalries.

This case study places students in the real world decision-making process acting as the Canadian Olympic Committee’s (COC) brand protection team faced with high-profile incidents of ambush marketing that arise in the months prior to the 2014 Sochi (Russia) Winter Olympic Games. The case study provides the actual ambush marketing assessment form utilized by the COC to assess the severity of ambush marketing incidents and challenges students to provide a course of action from both a legal and business perspective.

Notable celebrity-brand partnerships drive significant exposure in the marketing and advertising world, but a key question persists: what goes into the process behind which brands source, evaluate and ultimately select celebrity endorsements as part of a larger marketing strategy? Is this selection an arbitrary process, or one that carefully aligns with strategic objectives surrounding customer passion points, new business goals, and support for emerging product lines? Written in collaboration with Mastercard's VP and Head of Sponsorships for North America Michael Goldstein, this case examines Mastercard's overarching sponsorship strategy, summarizes notable athlete endorsement theory and models for endorser selection, and ultimately tasks students with the assignment of working through a hypothetical, but applied, endorser selection process featuring eight (8) prominent soccer athletes and their adjoining E-Poll endorser scores.

In 1998, Puma, a multinational company based in Germany that sells footwear and athletic apparel, signed a 10-year sponsorship agreement with NBA player Vince Carter. 'Vinsanity' was a short lived and tumultuous foray into basketball for the brand, but twenty years later Puma Basketball is back. The case analyzes Puma's evolved brand positioning alongside its recent flurry of 2018 and 2019 activity: an NBA league deal, Jay-Z's creative brand role, multiple player endorsement deals, the launch of a signature NBA All-Star Weekend shoe, and the growth of a formidable portfolio of music and cultural influencers. Students gain valuable insight into the footwear category while critically analyzing the brand's story arc through the sport of basketball; then, they must work through a competitive analysis and go-to-market strategy addressing Puma's future in basketball. Will this re-launch succeed?

After 20 years, "These Guys Are Good" - one of the longest standing brand campaigns in professional sports - was retired. In its place came "Live Under Par", a fresh, fan-forward brand campaign aimed at acquiring and engaging next-gen sports fans under new Commissioner Jay Monahan's leadership. The case outlines the history and structure of the Tour, detailing the brand evolution of "the world's premier membership organization for touring professional golfers." Why did the Tour shift strategy, and how is the organization delivering against its new "Live Under Par" call to action? How does this evolved positioning align with the Tour's media partners, fans, sponsors, players and events? Students are tasked to think critically about the Tour's repositioning move and the future challenges facing the sport of golf, before applying lessons from the case to a specific Tour event.

With exclusive insights from former XFL Presidents Jeffrey Pollack and Basil DeVito, this case examines the decision to relaunch the XFL in 2020 through the eyes of Vince McMahon, the league’s owner and this case’s protagonist. Students will be taken through a historical analysis of the XFL, starting with the League’s first attempt in 2001. The case then picks up in 2018 with McMahon’s decision to relaunch the XFL. It assesses the XFL’s entire relaunch strategy, from marketing plans to football operations and innovations, allowing students to compare and contrast the approaches of the XFL's two iterations, and think holistically about new property creation. Whilst the pandemic ultimately put an end to the second iteration of the XFL, the case culminates in detailing some of the impressive successes the league achieved in 2020, asking students to critically debate whether it was the right decision for McMahon to relaunch the XFL.