#Sports
Ambassadors bringing in Winning Results for #Sporting Goods Sales - (OTCQB:
$GFTX) (NYSE: $NKE) (NASDAQ: $EA) (OTC: $NGTF)
Point
Roberts, WA and Delta, BC - August 8, 2019 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Investorideas.com, a leading
investor news resource covering food, cannabis and retail stocks releases a
sector snapshot reporting on the influencer power of sports ambassadors
partnering with companies to build consumer awareness and drive sales.
Recently
both Business
Insider
as well as Forbes discussed the
recent growth of sports brands globally, with a particular focus on US sports
and the NFL and how they have rapidly increased in value over the past few
years. “The values of sports teams have skyrocketed on the backs of ballooning
media rights deals and more owner-friendly collective bargaining agreements
that restrain player costs. There are 52 teams across all sports worth at least
$2 billion, up from one, Manchester United, in 2012. The NFL is still the
dominant sports league when it comes to the worth of its franchises. More than
half of the top 50 are football squads.”
This increase in influence and net worth is
being noticed by many businesses looking to gain traction with their own brands
and we are seeing more and more brand partnerships in a multitude of industries
as a result.
Authentic Heroes, an innovator of collectible apparel
and subsidiary of Global Fiber Technologies Inc. (OTCQB:GFTX) www. globalfibertechnologies.com announced a new
partnership with IMG and its Football Greats Alliance (FGA), an organization
dedicated to preserving the legacy of retired NFL athletes. The national
partnership will introduce sports fans to a new line of Football Greats
collectible apparel that will feature inspirational quotes from former players
along with high-quality images, likenesses and historical authentication of
game-worn jerseys.
Hall
of Famer, Brett Favre, former
quarterback of the Green Bay Packers will be the new partnership’s inaugural
featured player. Authentic Heroes will feature Brett Favre’s name, number and
likeness on their unique style of hand-crafted, limited edition fan wear,
created by utilizing a patent pending process to extract fibers from an
on-field, game worn jersey and then digitally encoding the fibers into fabric
and incorporating them into a limited edition collection of jerseys, t-shirts,
hoodies and other wearables, providing sports fans with a unique opportunity to
own a piece of history.
"We
are pleased to work with FGA and IMG to connect football’s fan base with their
favorite retired players,” said Paul Serbiak, Authentic Heroes CEO. “Research
has shown that fans want more selection of retired players’ jerseys. Partnering
with the FGA will provide unique collectible apparel products to sports fans
nationwide, and we’re honored to present them with the opportunity to celebrate
these cultural icons,” he added.
“We
plan to accept pre-orders ahead of the actual release of the licensed
articles. Due to the custom nature of
our production process, this will allow fans to lock in their orders for a
specific size,” said Chris Giordano, President of Global Fiber Technologies,
Authentic Heroes parent company. Global Fiber Technologies is an innovator in
the textile fiber industry, focused on creating growth by developing and
commercializing new technologies in selected areas of the industry.
Brett
Weiss, Director of FGA stated: “We look forward to working with Authentic
Heroes to create high-quality memorabilia products that celebrate the game’s
icons. The Authentic Heroes approach to licensed sports merchandise is a new
and unique way to make on-field, game worn items accessible to a broader fan
base.”
The
Brett Favre Apparel Collection will be one of the first Football Greats
Authentic Heroes lines produced for the 2019-2020 season and will be available
for pre-purchase at www.authentic heroes.com late summer 2019.
One of the more well- known brand
partnerships with the NFL has been with Nike
Inc. (NYSE:
NKE)
and there offering of emotionally-charged video campaigns including its 2018 “Dream Crazy” video starring former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, and its 2019 “Dream Crazier” ad, an ode to
sisterhood narrated by tennis champ Serena Williams.
In
2018, Nike got 464.2M views and 17.2M engagements for 240 cross-platform
uploads, whereas only halfway into 2019 Nike’s view count has already reached
83% of last year’s total as this year the brand has earned 385.5M views and
17.5M engagements for 228 uploads.
Electronic Arts
Inc.
(NASDAQ:
EA)
also looked to the NFL
having announced
the launch of the EA SPORTS Madden NFL
20 Championship Series (MCS). This
year’s MCS enhances the connection to the sport as all four Madden NFL Major tournaments occur
during key NFL moments – the NFL Kickoff, the NFL playoffs push, the Super Bowl
and the NFL Draft. Additionally, official NFL partners Pizza Hut and SNICKERS©
will serve as official MCS sponsors, heightening the connection to the League.
The
Madden NFL 20 Classic occurs just
days before the NFL season kickoff from August 30-September 1 and is an open
registration format featuring the largest competitor pool in the history of
this event. Held at Esports Stadium Arlington, the largest esports-dedicated
facility in North America, the Madden NFL
20 Classic will air on the Madden NFL Twitch and YouTube channels.
In
addition to the Madden NFL 20 Classic,
fans can compete to represent one of the 32 NFL teams in the Madden NFL 20 Club Championship,
December 18-21. Next is the Madden NFL 20
Challenge occurring January 30-February 1, during Super Bowl weekend. The Madden NFL 20 Bowl concludes the MCS
season during the NFL Draft April 23-25.
“Last
season was a monumental year for the Madden
NFL Championship Series as millions competed and we achieved record
viewership,” said Matt Marcou, Madden NFL
Competitive Gaming Commissioner. “In continued partnership with the NFL and its
32 clubs, we intend to accelerate player and spectator growth by aligning
closely with the NFL calendar. Football fandom and Madden NFL engagement feed off each other and we’re confident this
connection will further inspire our players and spectators.”
“We
view esports as a key accelerant to growing the NFL. It enables new ways for
young fans to engage in the sport through Madden NFL competition,” said Rachel
Hoagland, NFL Vice President, Head of Gaming & Esports. “Competitive Madden
unlocks great potential as the authenticity it provides enhances engagement and
the connection between our 32 NFL Clubs and football fans around the world.”
NFL
athletes are even partnering with less obvious brands such as Nightfood, Inc. (OTC:
NGTF)
a company that makes sleep-friendly
nighttime ice cream formulated by sleep and nutrition experts, who
recently announced
its second celebrity custom flavor in a partnership with NFL superstar Richard Sherman.
Sherman
plays for the San Francisco 49ers and is a graduate of Stanford known for his
big heart and love of the spotlight. Entering the 9th year of his NFL career,
he has made 4 NFL Pro-Bowls and 4 All-Pro Teams and earned the singular honor
of being featured on the cover of the iconic EA Sports Madden video game while
a member of the Super Bowl Champion Seattle Seahawks.
“Richard
is a tremendously influential future Hall-of-Fame player who, like most of us,
enjoys a nighttime snack more than just occasionally,” commented Nightfood CEO,
Sean Folkson. “I believe his appeal to NFL fans and gamers of all ages will
allow us to drive additional Nightfood brand awareness when his custom flavor
is available in just a few months.”
“Richard
has been wanting to work with Nightfood for some time,” commented Mitch
Eisenstein, Sherman’s manager. “Nightfood launching custom celebrity flavors is
the glue that helped us bring the deal together at this moment in time.”
Sherman
was an early ambassador and investor in Body Armor, a successful sports drink
company partially acquired by Coca-Cola last year. Like many transcendent athletes, he has his
sights set on business after his playing days are over. With a vested interest
in Nightfood, Sherman stands to profit greatly if Nightfood grows the way he
believes it can in the coming months and quarters.
“Working
with Sean and the team to bring my own flavor to market is exciting,” added Sherman. “We’re going to have some fun, raise some
money for my charity, Blanket Coverage, and work together to make sure
Nightfood realizes its brand potential.”
Like
his charity, Sherman’s flavor will also be called “Blanket Coverage”, fitting
with the Nightfood naming convention of clever nighttime and sleep-related
names for Nightfood flavors. A monsterized caricature of Sherman will grace the
cover of the packaging for this new, sleep-friendly take on the classic butter
pecan flavor.
As
with Nightfood’s other announced celebrity custom flavor with 5 Seconds of
Summer guitarist Michael Clifford, a number of pints of Blanket Coverage will
be marked as a “golden-ticket” type winner. A handful of lucky Nightfood
customers win a special Richard Sherman experience, driving additional consumer
purchases.
“Having
a roster of big-time celebrities on our team certainly makes it easier as we
continue to secure supermarket distribution and consumer awareness,” noted Jim
Christensen, Nightfood VP of Ice Cream Sales. “Our ability to attract such big
stars also says something about the momentum we’ve created in the marketplace.”
As
sports teams gain more global influence we can expect to see more such
partnerships from their players, especially those retired or in the process of
retiring and looking to ensure their financial future. This focus on financial
stability for retired athletes is becoming a great advantage for emerging
companies looking to establish their brands quickly and add an already
established fan/consumer base to their products.
For
investors following sports related stocks InvestorIdeas.com has created stock
directories to research each sector. Learn more about our membership and
directories: https://www.investorideas.com/membership/
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