SBJ Marketing: Wasserman wins Tissot’s NBA work

Is the usual summer lull starting a bit earlier this year, or is just that the “tariff economy” has so many brands dormant when it comes to sports spend (outside of soccer and World Cup programs)?

Words of wisdom: “Do something every day that scares you. Put in the work on days when everything is clicking and you’re in your zone, and just as important, put in the work on days you feel like you’re not even in the right arena. When you’re consistent, when you bring your best to your practice every single day, then you’ll be ready.” -- Gold medal-winning U.S. gymnast Simone Biles, in a commencement speech at Washington University in St. Louis last month.

With the clock on the NBA Finals running out as soon as Thursday night, there’s some timely news.

Wasserman has emerged victorious in an agency shootout to win global strategy, activation and creative duties backing Tissot’s NBA sponsorship and its associated designations as the league’s “Official Timekeeper” and “Official Watch.”

Tissot’s NBA sponsorship has been in place since 2015, and it includes one of the league’s most visible -- and pricey -- commercial assets: branding on the 24-second clock above every NBA basket. That level of camera visibility and value made this review, which began last fall, one of the most closely watched of 2025.

No comment from Wasserman, but sources said the agency’s approach in melding the essence of the NBA and the watch brands won the account (we’ll see the work on this starting next season, of course). Tissot’s NBA assignment had been handled by CAA.

The Swiss watchmaker has been using Bucks G Damian Lillard as an endorser since 2021, in deference to his “Dame Time” handle. Tissot’s rights also extended to exclusive licensing rights for NBA watches.

Artificial intelligence’s numerous disciples say that on a transformative scale, its impact will eventually rank somewhere between the printing press and electricity. If I could be just a bit more parochial, is it a sponsorship category yet?

That issue was tossed about at SBJ’s recent Brand Innovation Summit.

My own response would be that it’s a nascent category, lacking a killer app with a brand that would generate incremental spending to put it on par with where something like crypto once was.

Still, let’s go to the source: Google’s Gemini AI says AI has “rising prominence” as a category and is being seen as the “next big sponsorship vertical in sports.”

ChatGPT takes a more conservative bent, stating AI “could definitely (aren’t those words oxymoronic?) open up new opportunities for sponsorships. ... AI is already starting to have a major impact on sports in terms of analytics, player performance, injury prevention, fan engagement and even virtual competitions.”

Turning to real sponsorship practitioners, as is my custom, it seems mixed.

Nearly every large domestic property has AI rights wrapped up in larger tech deals, but activation seems sporadic. There still seems to be some category overlap: Are cloud computing and AI the same category (which is how MLB’s deal works)? Not gonna ask ChatGPT that one.

It’s notable that two of the UFC’s largest deals ever were recently achieved through bisection of the AI category, with IBM/watsonx taking enterprise AI rights (B2B), and Facebook/Instagram parent Meta garnering B2C rights. Watsonx is delivering branded contextual data points -- an “Insights Engine” -- during UFC matches.

One certainty: the level of interest, even as embryonic as AI is. “There’s a race or maybe a war for AI going on in most of the world’s biggest brands. It’s a massive priority for them,” said Grant Norris-Jones, TKO’s EVP and head of global partnerships. “AI was the thing we heard most over a two-year RFP process. ... And we saw it as a great way to add scale and speed the storytelling that is our business.”

Meta’s UFC activation is still in process, but Norris-Jones is promising integration throughout, and naturally, looking for additional AI dollars across a portfolio that includes WWE and the PBR.

SponsorUnited founder and CEO Bob Lynch noted Perplexity’s TV ad with Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh last year, along with a recent endorsement deals with F1 driver Lewis Hamilton and Microsoft Copilot’s jersey deal with Manchester United as signs of recent top-shelf expenditures by AI brands.

OpenAI has recent deals with Chip Ganassi Racing and the Spurs.

As for smaller properties, less than 5% of the teams in the SponsorUnited database of 15,000 users are searching the AI category. The most-searched AI brands are Perplexity, Anduril and Anthropic.

Sports licensing veteran Greg Sim is returning to nouveau prep apparel brand Vineyard Vines in an expanded role. He is now VP and head of licensing at the Connecticut-based company, with responsibilities that also extend to international sales and sponsorship (where I recall a memorable, limited-edition collaboration/collection with Target in 2019).

Sim was at anti-counterfeiting tech services provider OpSec Security since January 2022, most recently as VP/strategic accounts and partnerships. Prior to that, he was at Vineyard Vines for a first go-round as senior director of licensing from 2018-2021. That was preceded by 21 years at MLB, where he rose to VP/consumer products.

• From his hardscrabble Jersey roots, to creating sports licensing at the NFL, to his agency work with the world’s biggest stars, Frank Vuono has always been direct, outspoken and extremely successful. I profiled Vuono for the cover story in this week’s SBJ as part of our Champions Class of 2025.
• The PGA Tour and AT&T signed a multiyear extension to title sponsor the Signature event at Pebble Beach, which the brand has sponsored since 1986, making it the longest-running such partner on tour, reports SBJ’s Josh Carpenter.
• In this SBJ/Leaders in Sport at Cannes video, Olympic and World 100-meter champion Noah Lyles chats with Leaders in Sport’s James Emmett, discussing his goals and the new opportunities he’s exploring to grow his brand
• International Money Express (Intermex), a money remittance provider, signed on as a sponsor of the Red Bulls, marking the brand’s third MLS club deal in the past month, reports SBJ’s Alex Silverman.
• The Aflac Duck was a hit among attendees at the Brand Innovation Summit.
• The Concacaf Gold Cup kicked off Saturday, and John Kozack, EVP/multimedia sales at TelevisaUnivision, said revenue is up 54% from the last time the Spanish-language network broadcast the event in 2023, notes SBJ’s Mollie Cahillane.