As many of us watched Manny Pacquiao destroy Antonio Margarito for 12 rounds Saturday night, fans may have noticed Tecate sponsorship throughout the night. Darren Rovell wrote about Tecate’s unwavering commitment to boxing.
Felix Palau, the brand’s vice president of marketing, says that they’ve gradually been betting more and more on boxing since 2007. Today, 70 percent of Tecate’s marketing budget has been spent on sponsoring fights and being everywhere the boxing fan desires to be. Tecate’s logo is on the mat for almost 90 percent of fights airing on American television.
The trend to spend more on boxing has to do with Tecate’s general audience:
“We’re a Mexican beer that celebrates the character of the hispanic man,” Palau said. “Fifty five percent of hispanic men are passionate about boxing compared to 35 percent of the general population.”
In addition to sponsoring the fight, it has provided purchasers of Tecate with $25 coupons off of PPVs Tecate sponsors. For this fight, it is offering $25 offof the PPV if fans purchase a 12 pack of Tecate.
Palau estimates that 1 to 3 percent of the total PPV buys are made up of people who received a Tecate rebate. So say 2 percent of the at least 1 million fans that will buy the fight got the Tecate redemption, that’s $500,000 in rebate commitments.
Payout Perspective:
Tecate’s strategy shows a commitment to its bread and butter: boxing. Although some may argue that MMA has overtaken boxing as the #1 combat sport, Tecate continues to keep its name (and marketin budget) in boxing. Obviously, it has done its research, knows its audience and it has built its brand awareness with boxing. I think the PPV rebates are a great idea to build loyalty as well as have consumers that hear of the promotion actively seek out your product. (NOTE: For the Pacquiao/De La Hoya, I went to 2-3 stores in the area, but could not find the Tecate rebate promotion although it was advertised. Again, for this fight, I did not see the promotion at my local grocery store. I believe that the rebates are placed in select areas).
It will be interesting to see if Tecate someday down the road decides to use some of its marketing budget to cross-over into MMA. With Cain Velasquez as the UFC Heavyweight Champion, this could be a great time for Tecate to sponsor fighters and/or become involved in other forms of marketing in MMA.
The $25 rebate cemented me buying it, it was a good promotion idea!
I hope they do start trying to come over into the MMA market…it would be great for all fighters, not just mexican or hispanics but for all!! The competition would make Budlight raise the stakes!! Yeah
$25 rebate minus the cost of a 12 pack. So you’re really only saving $12 off a $60 ppv with a terrible undercard. Oh and Bob Arum thinks of all us MMA fans are skinheads and gay. That guy will never get my money. FREE Arum fights for me.
jj – You missed a great fight. Manny is more exciting than most mixed martial artists. He’s the only boxer I can say that about and I haven’t missed a fight of his since 2006. Yes, it’s true that Arum gets some money out of it and I hate that guy, but then I have no love lost for Dana and I still buy pretty much every UFC card.
Two of the undercard fights were good. The Rigondeaux fight was boring but technical (which is true of many MMA fights as well) and I could have done without it, but on paper it was still an interesting fight.
I didn’t see the promotion or I definitely would have bought some Tecate. I don’t actually like the beer, but I was getting the PPV anyways and it would have saved me some $.
Diego, I did watch the Pacman fight. It didn’t cost me anything.
Awesome fight. Always enjoy Pacman fights. Rumor has it that the buy rate is near 1.4 million. Any one confirm this number?
jj – Well done. As long as you watched it. I certainly don’t mind Arum getting stiffed.
1.4 million surprises me, I didn’t think Margarito would be such a draw. But if Pacquiao v. Clottey can do 900k, then I guess I can see 600k Mexican fans buying it. Those are sick numbers, Manny must have made $20M+.
Hell yea..this was a fight i would of paid 90$ to watch, to watch the Greatest boxer of all time and be able to tell my kids about it someday is priceless. He may very well be the best P4P figter in the world, present, pass and perhaps many years into the future. I am a livid MMA fan but i do appreciate the cambat sports and this one was one for the ages..especially Margarito being so much bigger. I dont care what anybody says, Pacman is a legend happening right in front of us, if your so cheap as to not pay because of Arum…well your loss. I hope one day we can see May vs Pacman, so Pacman can shut this stupid ass MAy up!! Oh i am American-Mexican but i cant and will not deny how good pacman is. Honesty will rule the world!
Rick, chill out guy. wow. Pacman is great boxer but people are over doing it a bit. Margarito was picked because his fighting style played into Pacman’s strenghts. Arum set up a fight that was competitive enough to sell but that Pacman was likely to win.
OMG…the supidity that exists in this world..always coming and trying to minumize the situation to what it really is. I guess your not a fedor fan..cuz how in the hell can we say hes the baddest man in the world, he has gotten handpicked oppents for a while now…come on now. Stop the shit…Pac man fought like we havent seen since sugar ray…