Procter & Gamble (P&G) and the NFL today will formally announce a multi-year deal under which P&G will have the rights to use the NFL logo and place a "newly designed 'Official Locker Room Product of the NFL' label" on its products, according to Vranica & Futterman of the WALL STREET JOURNAL. P&G said that the deal is the "costliest in its history," and a source valued the deal at at least $10M a year. NFL Senior VP/Sales & Marketing Mark Waller, who said that the league "had been working on the deal with P&G for nearly three years," and other league officials "created a 'locker room products category' that could encompass numerous P&G brands." Vranica & Futterman note the category "has its limits, since the players probably won't be seen shaving with Gillette razors or applying Old Space, the way coaches use Motorola wireless headsets and players chug Gatorade." But league officials "convinced P&G that there was enough of a natural connection between 'tough players and tough products'" for the company top become one of the league's 21 major partners. The P&G deal for the NFL represents an "opportunity to go into business broadly with a company that spends over $8[B] a year on advertising around the globe but just a fraction of that on sports sponsorships." P&G Dir of Global Sports Marketing Jason Dial said the company upon its acquisition of Gillette in '05 "found out how much of a role sports marketing could play with our broader P&G portfolio" ( WALL STREET JOURNAL, 8/5 ). In Cincinnati, David Holthaus notes the deal is "not P&G's first sports marketing deal, but it may be its deepest, involving 13 brands in all." Old Spice will be part of the campaign, though P&G "would not release the other products involved"( CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 8/5 ).
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| Procter & Gamble Says Deal Costliest In Its History, Reportedly Valued At $10M A Year |
