AMP Energy unveiled its Hometown Takedown contest in May to the delight of MMA fans throughout the United States. MMAPayout covered the activation piece shortly thereafter, but today we’re providing a follow-up in the form of an exclusive interview with AMP Energy’s Pat Santangelo.
Why did AMP decide to become a WEC sponsor and what is it trying to achieve with the sponsorship?
Mixed Martial Arts is one of the fastest-growing, most entertaining sports in the world, and nobody delivers it better than the WEC. The fighters and the fans bring incredible passion and energy to the sport, and that’s where we come in. We believe that AMP Energy fits nicely with the controlled, focused, high-energy aspect of MMA, and we want to be a part of growing the sport and providing unprecedented access to the fighters and the sport. AMP Energy wants to engage MMA fans and our consumers through our partnerships with our fighters – Urijah Faber, Joseph Benavidez and Chad Mendes – and our promotions, like “Hometown Takedown”.
How does Hometown Takedown help AMP achieve its goals with the WEC sponsorship?
Hometown Takedown is all about unprecedented authority for the fans. AMP Energy is providing the platform for what we believe is the first time a major sports league is giving its fans the ability to decide where an event takes place. We believe that engaging MMA fans and our consumers is the right way to build credibility and connections.
What is AMP doing to promote the contest?
We are doing some traditional marketing, including airing a commercial featuring Faber, Benavidez and Mendes on Versus, Spike, and MTV, as well as several in-store promotions at Hess and Maverik. But we’re also taking some new approaches to get the word out and drive votes. We’ve engaged more than 20 fighters from the WEC and asked them to talk about Hometown Takedown on their Facebook and Twitter pages. This allows us to deliver on the true value of the promo and bring top-notch MMA activation to local markets. We want to make sure that even if you’re not a big fan of MMA, you know about Hometown Takedown and that you’ve voted for your area at least one time.
How has the contest fared in terms of the response it’s generated through registration, voting and overall buzz on the internet? Have those results met your initial expectations?
We are very happy with the consumer engagement and overall buzz that we have generated with Hometown Takedown. The online chatter has been positive and we’ve enjoyed watching MMA and AMP Energy fans talk about bringing a fight to their area and what they are willing to do to get their area to win. We passed our goals for total number of votes in the first month of the two-month campaign – so Hometown Takedown has already exceeded our expectations and we still have more than half of a month to go.
You mentioned the commercial featuring Faber, Benavidez and Medes. How important are those fighters to AMP’s overall activation strategy?
Faber, Benavidez and Mendes are extremely important to the Hometown Takedown activation strategy. Those three guys are the face of Hometown Takedown and superstars of the WEC, and they have been awesome to work with. They are a big reason that we’ve had such great voting numbers and they’ve been incredibly helpful in promoting the contest.
In addition to promoting Hometown Takedown, Faber, Benavidez, and Mendes are a perfect fit for AMP Energy. They are very well rounded individuals that are successful both inside and outside the cage. AMP Energy is all about delivering dialled-in energy that provides the energy that is needed to get you going and keep you going. So, the fit is naturally there.
Do you envision their role increasing in the next few years as MMA and the WEC continue to grow?
Again, those guys have been great partners. All three of them have been eager to help promote the WEC and AMP Energy, and we look forward to continuing the relationship with them. As the sport grows and as they, hopefully, become household names, we’ll continue to look for new and entertaining ways to work with them.
What else is AMP doing to activate around the WEC sponsorship? Is there more to the WEC activation plan (or Hometown Takedown) that we’ve yet to see?
We’re tossing around a few ideas. Again, we’re looking for new ways to engage MMA fans and AMP Energy consumers, to help grow the sport and to provide access to the action that you can’t get in any other league. We are talking to those hardcore MMA fans to find out from them what they’d like to see and what they think needs to be done to grow the sport. And we’ll continue to work with our partners at the WEC to make sure that we’re moving forward together.
Lastly, any predictions for WEC 50: Cruz vs. Benavidez?
Both fighters are very talented and dynamic. The fight will certainly be an entertaining fight with a lot of heart shown from both fighters. Obviously, we are biased, and believe Benavidez will win.
Leave a Reply