NFL Sponsorship Spenders In the News

August 14, 2024
The Kansas City Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII against the San Francisco 49ers, securing their fourth NFL championship. As the new season approaches, both teams remain top favorites to win the next Super Bowl, with the 49ers’ odds slightly adjusting from +550 to +600, matching the Chiefs’ odds. The regular season then begins Thursday, Sept. 5, with an AFC title game rematch between the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Baltimore Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium. But Patrick Mahomes, Myles Garrett, and Trent Williams aren’t the only NFL players in the news.

Keep reading to uncover three NFL sponsorship spenders making waves on WinmoEdge, the Winmo platform where users discover exclusive industry news before competitors, pinpoint who’s buying what they’re selling, and source talking points to fuel their daily outreach.

1)  Best Buy rolls out new tagline, back-to-school campaign

  • Estimated media spend: $88,887,651
  • Estimated revenue: $95,428,200
Best Buy just unveiled a new tagline, “Imagine That,” alongside a back-to-school campaign. The push will be supported through TV, online, and social ads, and the company also updated its color scheme by adding magenta, teal, and red to reach its target demographic of male Millennials, Gen-X, and Gen-Z students.

Best Buy will likely:

  • Significantly increase national TV spend through the fall.
  • Keep ramping up digital spending.

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance): 

  • Best Buy spent about $4.1m on national TV ads YTD, down 45% from $7.4m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2023. Full-year spending dropped 41% from $51.8m in 2022 to $30.8m in 2023.
  • Ad programming includes NFL Football, The NFL Today, NFL Football—Classic Replay, Good Morning Football, and NFL GameDay Morning.

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

  • Best Buy spent nearly $46.4m on digital ads YTD, up 34% from the $34.4 m spent in this channel during the same time period in 2023, with 7b impressions via Direct (88%), Display & Video 360 (10%), Google AdX+AdSense (1%), and Quantcast (1%).
  • Full-year spending fell 20% from $143.2m in 2022 to $114.6m in 2023 with ads on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pinterest, and Snapchat.

Agency insights: Reach out offering PR, digital, or social media assistance. Current agency roster:

Best Buy NFL sponsorship media mix

2)  Xbox reorganizes marketing team

  • Estimated media spend: $165,040,866 (Microsoft)
  • Estimated revenue: $146,302,017 (Microsoft)

Xbox is rearranging its marketing team following Jerret West’s departure (he is now the CMO of Roblox after over four years of leading Xbox marketing). Matt Booty, Head of Xbox Games Studios, now leads all games marketing initiatives, and Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, will handle hardware marketing. This shift will affect the company’s marketing budget and agency roster targeting Gen-Z and millennials with a male skew.

Xbox will likely:

  • Seek game or hardware-specific agency partners.
  • Try new marketing channels.

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance): 

  • Xbox spent around $24.4k on national TV ads YTD after not using the channel during the same time period in 2023. Its full-year spending totaled $34k in 2023, and it did not utilize the channel in 2022.
  • Ad programming includes WNBA, WNBA Basketball, Quick Pitch, MLB Tonight, and MLB Baseball. 

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

  • Xbox spent about $11.7m on digital display ads YTD, down from $25m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2023. 1.7b impressions via Direct (99%) and Google AdX+AdSense (1%).
  • Full-year spending equaled $48m in 2022 and $49.8m in 2023, with ads placed on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube.

Agency insights: This shift could lead to agency reviews, so act now to secure top priority. Current agency roster:

Xbox NFL sponsorship

3)  Lowe’s promotes top marketer amid spending increases

  • Estimated media spend: $352,071,270
  • Estimated revenue: $377,459,443

Lowe’s promoted Jennifer Wilson — who has been with Lowe’s since 2006, most recently serving as SVP of enterprise brand and marketing — to CMO in June 2024. As CMO, she is responsible for strategic brand and product marketing, loyalty programs, creative, and media. Lowe’s also named Dentsu Creative its lead creative partner in March. Contact the new CMO to discuss potential opportunities targeting Gen-X and Millennials with a male skew.

Lowe’s will likely:

  • Keep increasing ad spend.
  • Launch new marketing campaigns and initiatives.
  • Make additional agency changes (recent creative appointment).

Broadcast insights (TV ad creative spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance): 

  • Lowe’s spent approximately $66.9m on national TV ads YTD, a 10% increase from $60.9m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2023. Full-year spending dropped 5% from $176.4m in 2022 to $167.9m in 2023.
  • Ad programming includes College Basketball, the 2024 NFL Draft, NBA finales 2024, The Big Bang Theory, and SportsCenter.

Digital and social insights (digital ad spend, effectiveness, impressions, and performance):

  • Lowe’s spent around $68.5m on digital display ads YTD, a 17% jump from $58.5m spent in this channel during the same time period of 2023. 8.1b impressions via Direct (99%), Google AdX+AdSense (<1%), and Display & Video 360 (<1%).
  • Full-year spending increased by 18% from $124.9m in 2022 to $146.8m in 2023, with ads placed on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, and OTT Streaming Services (General).

Agency insights: Reach out to the recently promoted CMO now to secure top priority. Current agency roster:

NFL

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