The Sports Business Journal (subscription required) reports that Top Rank Boxing has signed on with Sony for its Playstation 4 brand to receive “prominent placement” at this week’s Bradley-Pacquiao II event and June 7th’s Miguel Cotto-Sergio Martinez PPVs.
In addition, the PS4 logo will be seen during the May 17th Juan Manuel Marquez-Mike Alvarado fight on HBO. Although no financial terms were revealed, SBJ estimates that the scale of such a deal would exceed $1M and “could approach $2M.”
The deal between Top Rank and Sony occurred via a LinkedIn “cold call” by Top Rank Exec VP Lucia McKelvey to PlayStation exec Guy Longworth. The two had connected via the business-oriented social network site and McKelvey contacted Longworth about a potential sponsorship opportunity. The pitch was premised upon using boxing as a means to target young Hispanic males “both inside and outside of the U.S.”
The activation includes a PS4 logo prominently displayed at all three fights and PlayStation trailers running on the PPV telecasts. There also would be banners and pre-roll on Top Rank’s web site as well as social media integration during all three fights.
PlayStation 4 has sponsored UFC events as well as providing signage on the indoor rock wall for the memorable coaches TUF challenge between Ronda Rousey and Miesha Tate.
Payout Perspective:
The Top Rank-Sony PlayStation news may draw the ire of every young sales associate considering this lucrative partnership originated out of a cold call. It’s clear that this cold call is much different than other ones but the fact remains it may not have happened without the initial pitch. The partnership should help both brands as it gives the gaming console notable visibility during three of the bigger fights this year for the boxing promotion. For Top Rank, it’s a blue chip brand that it has added to its portfolio of sponsors during a big stretch for the company.
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