Drinks Giant Diageo Becomes the First Official Spirits Sponsor of the NFL
Different regions, expressions, emotions, behaviors unified by one language – Language of football. A popular sport with over 4 billion fans associated with passion and excitement, exclusively connects people with similar interests and initiates conversations. But do you know that apart from huge fan bases, alcoholic beverages and football have one more thing in common. They both stand at the top hierarchy in social interactions where in alcoholic beverages are considered as a facilitator of social interactions.
Global leader of spirits connects with one of the best football premier leagues. Let’s see what new concepts does this sponsorship brings out for the fans.
NEW YORK, June 16th 2021 :
On this day, NFL (National Football League) tied a connection with the internationally popular spirit leader Diageo, forming a very unique spirit sponsorship. This kind of step is a first for NFL throughout it’s 101 years of glory. According to Sports Business Journal, this deal between NFL and world’s largest distiller Diageo is worth $30 million per year. While certain terms and conditions that were accepted to form this deal remain disclosed. Here is what we know about the deal:
- Diageo’s Guinness Beer won’t be a part of this deal. Since 1975, Bud light a product of Anheuser-Busch InBev has exclusive rights to beer advertising for the ‘Super Bowl’. The duo’s last deal was roughly $250 million per year.
- Diageo will be focusing on promoting Captain Morgan Original Spiced Rum, Crown Royal Canadian Whiskey & Smirnoff Vodka. Crown Royal has been affiliated with this league since 2017 when it became first spirits brand to advertise during a televised NFL game with its “Water Break” Responsible Drinking campaign encouraging moderation.
- Captain Morgan will also host as a sponsor for NFL’s popular ‘Fan of the Year’ contest. Out of the 32 premier league clubs, each club will select a fan of legal drinking age and they will be crowned as that club’s Fan of the year. While receiving a grand Super Bowl experience.
- This sport-spirit sponsorship brings a lot of opportunities for fans to engage into the amazing football world, while advertisements will be at its peak around NFL’s broadcast digital and social channels all season.
Significance of the deal :
“NFL games have the powerful ability to bring people together, and that very much ties into what our brands at Diageo are all about: bringing people together to celebrate life,”
said Ed Pilkington, Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer, Diageo North America.
The gist of the deal is working on innovative programs and promoting the important awareness of responsible drinking. Diageo is a brand that has advanced rapidly in the sports and entertainment field. In 2004, Diageo crossed a milestone of being the first company in the spirit industry to partner with NASCAR. The raw power and exhilaration of stock racing mixed with refreshing spirits took place when the auto racing company lifted its ban on distilled spirits sponsorship.
This deal is a natural progression and worldwide recognized because Diageo currently has agreements with 12 NFL teams and some major stadium deals as well. The NFL team is also thrilled to welcome Diageo as their first ever spirit sponsor.
Some famous spirits by Diageo :
- Scotch Whiskey – Johnnie Walker, Vat 69, Black & White.
- Irish Whiskey – Roe & Co
- American Whiskey – Seagram’s Seven Crown
- Canadian Whiskey – Crown Royal, Piehole Whiskey
- Vodka – Smirnoff, Ketel One.
- Rum – Captain Morgan, Bundaberg, Zacapa
- Gin – Gordon’s, Tanqueray.
- Beer – Guinness, Harp Lager, Tusker
In 2016, Diageo was ranked 11th out of 4,255 companies worldwide for diversity and inclusiveness in the Thomson Reuters Diversity and Inclusion (D & I) index.