Sport Leadership Vignettes

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.

A long time sponsor of FIFA, National American Brewing Company (NABC) is fresh off a wildly successful 2014 Men’s World Cup activation when scandal rocks FIFA’s leadership group and casts a shadow on all involved. As the optics get worse and pressure mounts from media, fans, and internal stakeholders, NABC has a decision to make, one that may shape the future of their sponsorship portfolio and directly impact their business for better or worse. Students are tasked with conducting a cost benefit analysis on both sides of the issue, and creating a management recommendation to senior leadership outlining both the company’s path forward, and a communication plan to execute it. Learning opportunities abound from this real world case touching business ethics, corporate social responsibility, and sponsorship management.

This case study places the student in the role of a Coca-Cola Classic marketing executive challenged with determining if the brand should engage in ambush marketing around the 2015 Super Bowl, based on the critical analysis of the legal, ethical and practical business environment. The second component of the case study challenges the student to recommend an ambush marketing plan using the range of tactics provided.

Written in consultation with Bank of America's sponsorship marketing team, this case places students directly in the position of an agency partner tasked with activating a complex national MLB sponsorship contract. Armed with a typical agency brief and a set of compelling sport marketing assets, students are tasked with activating Bank of America's MLB sponsorship via the brand's #MLBMemoryBank campaign. Integrating insights about baseball, the banking category, and sponsorship best practices is a complex task, one that fosters a rich understanding of brand sponsorship pulled directly from the front lines of the sports industry.