Flair Country
06-11-2007, 05:54 PM
Today's edition of the Boston Herald looks World Wrestling Entertainment's plans to turn marketing power towards acquiring big name sponsors for its television, Internet, and PPV properties. The newspaper noted an announcement is slated for later today, obviously timed to help lead World Wrestling Entertainment into next week's annual Licensing convention in New York City. Kane and Carlito are slated to make private appearances to help promote the company during that week.
“I think the proof is right there in the pudding, that we can be competitive with major sports leagues,” Ethan Green, Vice President of Sponsorships for World Wrestling Entertainment, told The Herald. Green noted the company was hoping to sign seven figure, exclusive deals in a number of categories including electronics, automobiles, and banking.
Obviously, there are a number of reasons for WWE gearing up to attempt to attract huge level exclusive sponsors. With their current TV deals, WWE are no longer sharing in the profits from the advertising revenues of Raw, ECW, or Smackdown, when in the past, they themselves had sold the bulk of those commercials in-house to advertisers. The company obviously sees the big name sponsorships that the Ultimate Fighting Championships have associated themselves with via their SpikeTV shows over the last year, as do major professional sports entities.
WWE is hoping to evolve the company brand to something similar to the level of a National Football League or Major League Baseball where cities will vie for major events, such as Orlando, Florida did for Wrestlemania 24. By locking up big name sponsors for the company, they are taking WWE's awareness factor and credibility up a notch, creating new revenue streams that the company can tout to their stockholders.
While the WWE product may seem sketchy to some outside the wrestling bubble, the truth is that the male demographics it attracts may entice prospective sponsorship partners. It is believed that this new undertaking is one of the reasons the company has tried to focus more on the in-ring aspect of their product of late.
PWInsider
“I think the proof is right there in the pudding, that we can be competitive with major sports leagues,” Ethan Green, Vice President of Sponsorships for World Wrestling Entertainment, told The Herald. Green noted the company was hoping to sign seven figure, exclusive deals in a number of categories including electronics, automobiles, and banking.
Obviously, there are a number of reasons for WWE gearing up to attempt to attract huge level exclusive sponsors. With their current TV deals, WWE are no longer sharing in the profits from the advertising revenues of Raw, ECW, or Smackdown, when in the past, they themselves had sold the bulk of those commercials in-house to advertisers. The company obviously sees the big name sponsorships that the Ultimate Fighting Championships have associated themselves with via their SpikeTV shows over the last year, as do major professional sports entities.
WWE is hoping to evolve the company brand to something similar to the level of a National Football League or Major League Baseball where cities will vie for major events, such as Orlando, Florida did for Wrestlemania 24. By locking up big name sponsors for the company, they are taking WWE's awareness factor and credibility up a notch, creating new revenue streams that the company can tout to their stockholders.
While the WWE product may seem sketchy to some outside the wrestling bubble, the truth is that the male demographics it attracts may entice prospective sponsorship partners. It is believed that this new undertaking is one of the reasons the company has tried to focus more on the in-ring aspect of their product of late.
PWInsider