REIGNING SUPER BOWL Champions the Green Bay Packers have renewed their marketing partnership with the Ernest and Julio Gallo-owned New Amsterdam Gin brand for the 2011-2012 season.
Under the deal, New Amsterdam Gin will be poured at outlets within the Lambeau Field stadium. The sponsorship also includes the use of official team marks and logos for consumer retail promotions.
This week, the gin brand also announced deals with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons and Oakland Raiders for the duration of the 2011/12 football season, taking its team sponsorship agreements up to five NFL franchises.
Gallo Spirits, the company that distributes a number of spirit brands for Ernest and Julio Gallo, has also signed up a host of NFL deals for flagship tequila brand, Familia Camarena, and namesake brandy, E&J Brandy.
Familia Camarena Tequila, for example, signed a three-year marketing sponsorship with the Minnesota Vikings, adding to the tequila brand’s sponsorship agreements with six Major League Baseball clubs, two National Basketball Association teams and three additional NFL teams this year.
While unfamiliar in Europe, the niche category of these spirit deals will come as no surprise to marketers of NFL properties. Up until 2008, the NFL had a rule that prohibited its franchises from partnering with liquor companies.
Before that, the NFL exploited other niche categories. Cheese made by Sargento Foods Inc, for example, was designated the official cheese of the Green Bay Packers and Lambeau Field in 2003 in a deal that survives to this day.