Case Study: Land O’ Frost

Background:

Based in Lansing, IL, Land O' Frost is a family run national corporation that was looking to brand their product across the country targeting a very specific demographic. When Knox Sports was chosen to partner with them, they were the 8th largest in their category and they had no branding recognition, even in strong penetration markets.

Goals:

Land O' Frost wanted to:

- Reach their targeted demographic through youth sports

- Wanted to sponsor recreational teams in specific markets where their grocery penetration was strongest.

- Wanted their logo on team jerseys for kids in the age range of 4-10.

Execution:

In 2001, Knox Sports created and began to execute what would become the most comprehensive grassroots youth sports marketing platform ever established in the US. We started in 11 cities across the country, sponsoring multiple teams within an organization in the age bracket of 4-10 and sponsoring several organizations in each market. In the 1st year we ended up sponsoring over 1,500 total teams. The program has continued year after year sponsoring recreational teams in the markets Land O' Frost has chosen. Currently, this program takes place in 27 cities across the country and they sponsor over 12,000 teams!

What separated this marketing effort from other youth sports initiatives was that this was not a one-time broad brush sponsorship. Knox Sports sends its team out to the actual fields every year to meet with these partner leagues and make sure that the partnership is a mutual success. The money paid to these leagues goes directly to their individual league bottom lines with no National Organizational overhead taking a percentage.

Results:

Over the course of this program Land O' Frost has jumped to 3rd in lunch meat sales in the US. Their tremendous goodwill gesture has built internal loyalty across all of the almost 350 youth organizations that they sponsor with this family organization.

Click here to contact Knox Sports concerning your branding needs today.

Case Study: Hops Restaurant

Situation:

National Restaurant Chain that had 13 markets that needed local branding
and sales push.

Need:

Increase Branding, Sales & Traffic with non-traditional and budgeted
spending.

Execution:

Tailored organizational relationships with college and minor league teams
that accurately reflected marketplace situations.

Execution Examples:
Columbus, OH:	Developed traffic-building program with local minor league baseball team. Customers bring unique offer /registration piece to store. Heavy in-stadium support & community mascot program builds brand.
Memphis/ Colorado Springs:	Sponsored safe ride home program in both markets with signage & ticketback execution.
Lafayette, LA:	Value market, developed massive coupon distribution program with local university where 500,000 coupons were hand-distributed to patrons over 5 months for free appetizers.
Tampa, FL:	Entitled new marathon in Area. Garnered over $250,000 in media coverage in first year. Became benchmark for community giving program in Tampa Bay Area.
Bowling Green, KY:	Overcame Previous year Hepatitis C scare with aggressive, fun University basketball promotion “Hops Free Shots contest.”

Results:

Same Store sales in 13 key markets experienced 6% growth with average market expenditure of $20,000.

Click here to contact Knox Sports concerning your branding needs today.

Mission Trips

If you live in the USA, you are rich. If you do not believe this, travel almost anywhere in the World and this truth will quickly become apparent.

Knox Sports is a family. Heck, the company was named after my son, and my employees are as close to me as any family could be. Our family feels very privileged that we have been able to travel to Central America a few times now, and hopefully make a difference in a place that is simply not as fortunate as we are.

In 2007, 2009 and 2011, the Knox Sports Team traveled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We partnered with a Christian organization in this impoverished capital city that has established children-centered missions in three of the most challenged areas. Most kids in this country come from single parent homes and do not attend school after 10 years old. These missions use the allure of soccer to encourage wayward kids to come in. In addition to Christian and secular education, attendees are guaranteed one free meal per day and complimentary medical attention. Our small semi-annual contribution is to outfit all these kids in new soccer gear! This year we were able to give over 500 amazing kids new soccer uniforms, balls and other gear. In 2011 this donation was assisted by some of the Leagues that we work with in our Youth Sports Sponsorship Programs. A big thank you to:

www.humuyainn.com
http://www.westchasesoccer.org/
http://www.utahsocceralliance.com/
www.pikeyouthsoccerclub.org


In addition to the soccer outreach, the Knox Sports team also put their limited skills to work on some other worthwhile projects in Honduras. In 2007, we helped prepare an Aids House for kids for their first tenants. In 2009, we put the finishing touches on the boy's wing of an orphanage and spent two days redecorating a rural school. In 2011, we assisted in building an indoor soccer field and headed back to the school we worked with in 2009 to provide school supplies and outdoor sports equipment.

Looking forward to 2013!

Mission Trips slide shows
2007 Honduras Mission Trip		2009 Honduras Mission Trip
2011 Honduras Mission Trip

Our Typical Client

Corporate folks who choose to negotiate their own sponsorship contracts are often led to this decision because of the ego and prestige associated with working with a sports organization.

Sports sponsorship decision makers within companies typically choose to either negotiate this relationship on their own or they rely on their traditional advertising agency to present them the best deal. The truth is that neither of these scenarios are the right answer.

Corporate folks who do their own deals are usually controlled by the ego of the team relationship. They may believe that because a particular contract has been in their purview for years, they are uniquely qualified to know true valuation of the sponsorship inventory. However, who gave these folks these “values”? If this information came from the sports property, then the wolf is in the kitchen. A better answer is to let an outside expert that has worked on these contracts with this property and dozens of other like contracts evaluate this inventory. Knox Sports is this expert and we guarantee that we can deliver a better negotiated contract or we will not take the business.

Some companies mistakenly rely on their traditional advertising agencies to negotiate their sports contracts. Sure these folks are terrific at spots, dots, ratings and GRP’s…but do they know sports? The answer is most assuredly no. Agencies try to fit sports buys into the world they understand and present it to their clients that way. Signage and promotions are translated into CPM equivalents. Marketing campaigns that are running in traditional media are just dropped into game environments like a lost dog. Contract effectiveness is sometimes measured in seat locations instead of customer counts.

If you want proof of any of the above, ask your sports sponsorship partner who signs the most ineffective contracts with them every season. You will get one of two answers: An in-house decision maker that let their sports passion control their budget, or an agency that simply never asked the right questions to deliver an effective relationship to their client.

So, if having the most effective sports sponsorship for your money is your goal, then you just became our typical client.

Clients

Our client list ranges from the small business to the Fortune 500 Corporation and varies dramatically by industry.

The common denominator with all our clients is an understanding of the power of sports marketing. Some of the companies that rely on Knox Sports for customized sports sponsorships include:

84 Lumber	“Significant boosts in business following events and we use these events as tools to open doors for our salesmen and build those relationships beyond strict price and product points.” Jim Krejci – Marketing Director 84 Lumber Company
Atlantic Coast Bank
BI-LO	"The Knox Sports team is a true asset to my department. They have helped me develop programs within our sports marketing contracts that truly drive customers into our stores, activate sales, and create loyalty. From our local level partnerships to our major college deals, I completely trust them to put me in the right direction and get the job done! There is nothing they won't do for BI-LO!" Katie Batista BI-LO Events & Sports Marketing Manager
CCM:
Circle K	“Knox Sports Marketing delivers targeted lifestyle campaigns that continuously drive our brand equity through development and activation of local, strategic programs. Through the direction of KSM, we have customized our marketing initiatives and created exciting new programs that cut through the cluttered sports marketing arena.” Ari Rothman Manager of Brand Marketing & Advertising Circle K
Farm Bureau Virginia Florida South Carolina Texas	“We gave the folks at Knox Sports a test in 2006 with just a few deals. Today we entrust them to completely manage all 19 sports partnerships in the State of Virginia on our behalf, which has saved us an immense amount of time and energy. Combine this effort with the ROI models we have created now, and we could not be happier with Knox Sports.” Matt Smith Marketing Manager Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Company
Huntington
Hooters
Kanes	“I have personally worked with the folks at Knox Sports for more than 20 years. I consider myself a terrific contract negotiator, but with Knox Sports expertise, our sports marketing has transcended to another level. Last year, our sponsorships delivered almost 40,000 unique visitors into our Central Florida stores. Sports Marketing can deliver success, and we knew where to find it.” Irwin Novack President Kane’s Furniture
Land O’ Frost	“In 2001 Land O’ Frost and Knox Sports came up with a youth sports Marketing initiative. In the first year of this program we were in 11 markets across the country; sponsored a little over 1,000 teams and Land O’ Frost was the 8th largest lunchmeat company in the country. Since then, we have grown our youth sports program to 29 markets; we now sponsor over 10,000 teams and Land O’ Frost is the 3rd largest lunchmeat company in the country. Knox Sports executes and manages this entire program for us. We could not imagine doing it without them!” Stephan Williams Vice President of Marketing Land O’ Frost
Surgery Partners
St. Pete Times
Nash Finch

Contract Negotiation

At Knox Sports Marketing our specialty is negotiation, activation and management of sports sponsorships. We use the sports marketplace to reach target demographics, market brands, entertain key customers and build brand loyalty.

Our clients rely on our company for several reasons. However, contract negotiation is the main reason why a company will bring us on board. Sports is all we do and what we love, and this passion for sports translates to excellence in sponsorship negotiation.

The three main reasons a company will bring us on board to negotiate on their behalf are; Financial, Time and Results.

Financial- We know the value of package items within sponsorships. Our experience and creativity in negotiating literally hundreds of contracts just like yours makes us uniquely qualified to get your company a better deal than you or a traditional agency could ever hope to achieve.
Time- We do all of the time-intensive legwork involved in the negotiation process. Our client is still the ultimate decision maker and will continue to reap all the personal perks and rewards of being the main contact, but the pain of the process is taken away.
Results- We will help our clients develop a methodology for tracking sponsorship results. It is imperative that we find a mutual way to measure how this sponsorship is working to achieve our preset goals.

Every client is unique and we work to understand the marketing objectives of our clients and utilize sports marketing tools to reach these objectives.

Once you've hired Knox Sports, you will go through a 5-step process.

1. We will sit down with your company to learn all about your business. During this time we will find out what your marketing goals are, your target demographic and what your sports marketing budget will be.
   
   
2. We will then come up with a sports marketing plan that fits your needs for you to review. From there, you will look over everything we provided and make decisions on which direction you would like to head.
   
   
3. We then hit the road and negotiate the best sponsorship package(s) possible. This typically takes a lot of time going back and forth with the entities we´ve decided to move forward with. We will keep you – as our client – constantly updated throughout the process as much as you would like to let you know what is happening.
   
   
4. Once we have settled on the perfect sponsorship package for your company, we will schedule a time to present the sponsorship package(s) to you. From there, you as our client will review all of the sponsorships, and make any necessary changes. If you decide to move forward, you are the one who executes the sponsorship(s)!
   
   
5. Once the contracts are executed we provide our client with an execution summary detailing all of the elements in the agreement and our expert advice on how best to take advantage of the sponsorship elements. Throughout the contract term we are in touch with our clients and the team to make sure the relationship is going smoothly and will handle any problems that may arise. It is also noteworthy that our client remains the main point of contact with any partnering organization. Yes, Knox Sports can step in when a problem arises, but the sports perks that make this relationship so much fun will continue to flow straight to our clients' doorstep!
   
   
   

International Consultation

Our experience in sports marketing has offered us many opportunities to take our expertise on a Global stage. Sports organizations and companies all across the world are involved in sports marketing. If your company needs help in sports sponsorship, Knox Sports Marketing international consultation team will come to work for you.

Typically, when working with international clients, Knox Sports Marketing will act as an active consultant to assist the client to reach their revenue or negotiation goals.

There are four main phases an International Sports Organization can expect from a consultation agreement with Knox Sports Marketing:

Evaluation: Knox Sports Marketing will meet and spend time with your organization, learn about your past successes and failures, and hear about your future revenue hopes and goals. We will learn about your current sponsorship inventory as well as be searching for new and creative items that your organization could add to their rate card.

Planning: Once the evaluation is complete, Knox Sports Marketing will head back home to create a plan that best fits your organization. During this phase we will begin to create rate cards and packages for your sports organization. Once we have the comprehensive revenue or negotiation and execution plan in order we will head back to meet with your organization.

Mentoring: During this phase Knox Sports Marketing will teach your team the best way to sell sports sponsorships if applicable, or we will finalize the sponsorship negotiation. The hope is that we can arm your staff with the tools necessary to move forward and achieve your goals in as independent a manner as possible.

Recommendations: After giving your sports organization some time to work through everything we have laid out for them we will come back and give our final recommendations for success, and execute any details as requested.

During the whole process Knox Sports Marketing will be available to answer your questions and help you along the sponsorship sales and negotiation process!

Knox Sports History

Case Study: 84 Lumber

Situation:

Lumber company whose primary customer base is business-to-business, and is reliant in a sales environment on high-end and unique hospitality for this constituency. Entertainment function must leave lasting impression that ultimately improves relationships between sales people and current and future customers. In addition, 84 Lumber wanted a clear methodology for tracking these hospitality efforts directly to their marketing dollars.

Execution:

Created a hospitality football event schedule that encompassed the entire College and NFL schedule. Identified games that were in key markets for 84 Lumber. The schedule consisted of 15 Monday Night Football games and 5-marquee college football match ups. Contacted sports properties in both NFL and College Football.

Prior to the NFL and College Football schedules being released Knox Sports Marketing has contracts in place ready to be signed the day the schedules were revealed.

At each event there were unique dinners and golf events pre-planned for the customers and employees. Transportation was provided to and from all events. On game-days the guests were treated to pregame hospitality, suite tickets where available or Club Tickets to all games.

These world class hospitality events allowed 84 Lumber salesman to get to know current and future clients better, forming relationships that should translate to sales.

Every moment of the itinerary was coordinated and executed by Knox Sports, with a dedicated Knox Sports employee at all 20 event weekends.

Results:

Even though these hospitality events were taking place during the toughest building economical environment of the last century, 84 Lumber deemed the events such a success that they have engaged Knox Sports every year since the initial program began. 84 Lumber claims “significant boosts in business following events and we use these events as tools to open doors for our salesmen and build those relationships beyond strict price and product points.”


Click here to contact Knox Sports today.

Case Study: Our Family

Situation:

Our Family Brand is the generic label used by parent company Nash Finch for a huge range of products distributed to all their grocers and other independents across the upper Midwest. As with all generics, Our Family Brand needed heightened exposure and trial. Of no less importance was the need to entertain key customers representing these independent grocers in unique settings where a complete buy-in could be closed.

Execution:

The unifying sports force in The Our Family strategic trade area was the Minnesota Twins. Knox Sports created a three-tiered promotional relationship with the Minnesota Twins that would generate great brand sizzle, and a memory-making consumer hospitality function.

First, Our Family Brand became the entitlement sponsor of the "Official Minnesota Twins Tailgate Party". All the food served at this huge outside tented affair was Our Family Brand products, so internal and external customers could sample the fare in a great setting.

Next, a Statewide sweepstakes was created for fans in Twins territory to register to win space inside this tailgate every home Saturday night. The media support the Twins provided behind this sweepstakes was valued at more than 4x the sponsorship cost.

Finally, this tailgate function provided a natural environment for Our Family Brand to entertain key customers and potential new accounts. In terms of execution, these folks saw a brand that they may not have been familiar with previously on a big stage.

Results:

Promotional buy-in at retail was over 90%. This program was renewed for three more years at the Metrodome and continues now at Target Field.


Click here to contact Knox Sports today.

Case Study: BI-LO

Background:

Based in Greenville, SC, BI-LO is a grocery chain with locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. With intense grocery competition in these States, BI-LO has turned to aggressive sports marketing to create a point of difference in the marketplace.

Goals: With all the competition, BI-LO wanted to focus on two things:

1. Increase store traffic
   
2. Induce trial of in-house generic brand, Southern Home
   

BI-LO, like most grocers, has a frequency card used to track consumer behavior and spending habits. The BI-LO BONUSCARD is their frequency card, and a tertiary goal of all of our sports marketing partnerships is to grow the number of cardholders and provide more benefits to BONUSCARD holders.

Execution:

In year one, we created and executed a plan of attack at the University of South Carolina with the idea of accomplishing all three goals at once. BI-LO No Dough, as it is accurately named, is a promotion whereby fans can attend any conference basketball game for free! BONUSCARD holders that purchase seven (7) Southern Home products in one transaction will receive a voucher to attend a USC basketball game for free. Fans can redeem their voucher at the ticket office for one free ticket to the conference game of their choice.

In the second year of the promotion, we added baseball to the mix, which extended the promotion into the spring. In year three we decided to take this promotion to Clemson where 1,000 tickets are available for the first two football games.

Results:

In the first two years of the program and during just a 6-week promotional window, all 1,000 USC basketball tickets available with the No Dough program through incremental purchase sold out. Furthermore, stats revealed that 50% of all customers who made this incredible incremental purchase of Southern Home products redeemed their voucher for free tickets. The addition of baseball has proven to be equally successful with every ticket being accounted for in year two as well. The promotion was so successful in basketball and baseball in year three that BI-LO chose to purchase more than 1,000 additional tickets over their contract to allow their loyal customers to attend free athletic events.

Click here to contact Knox Sports today.

Case Study: Florida Farm Bureau Insurance

Background:

When Knox Sports was hired to negotiate Florida Farm Bureau's sports marketing deals, there was a lot of waste. There was generic branding with no call to action, and zero trackable promotions. Essentially, Florida Farm Bureau had no way of telling if their sports marketing investment was providing them any financial return.

Knox Sports was hired to simply make these important partnerships more effective. The results were immediate.

Situation:

Goal #1: Drive traffic to Farm Bureau agents' offices and gather data for future solicitation. We wanted to give the agents the opportunity for potential business. If someone walks into their office, they have the ability to look them in the eye, shake their hand, and start a relationship. We wanted to give them the ability to hand a potential customer something valuable, something memorable. Hopefully the direct customer/agent interaction will result in data gathering and future revenue.

Goal #2: Give current Florida Farm Bureau customers a series of strong reasons to continue their patronage in the form of member benefits.

Execution:

Knox Sports negotiated a traffic-driving program at the University of Florida, whereby anyone can walk into an agent's office and get a free ticket to the Orange and Blue Spring game. Ordinarily, this is a paid ticket! 8,000 tickets have been made available for this promotion, and vouchers have been delivered to agents Statewide.

Knox Sports has implemented a membership benefits program at the University of Florida, the University of Central Florida, and Florida State University, so that Florida Farm Bureau members can get into various athletic events for free including a large number of annual and very valuable baseball games at all three schools.

Results:

Between the three university partnerships, over 3,000 tickets have been freed up to accommodate Farm Bureau members that want to attend college baseball games.

In addition to the above, we created a data capture program at each school and have accumulated over 10,000 names since the program's inception. These names are provided to Florida Farm Bureau and used as an opportunity for new business.

Click here to contact Knox Sports today.

Case Study: Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance

Background:

Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance is just like any other company - they want new business. They want new customers to try any of their insurance products (home, life, auto, health), and when they have their business, they feel confident about retaining them.

Trying to get people to walk into an insurance agent's office is about as easy as getting a child to eat brussels sprouts. So naturally, they called on the experts at Knox Sports for help.

Situation:

The goal is to drive traffic to Farm Bureau agents' offices. This will familiarize potential customers with location and the office personnel as well as gather data for a future sales call with the direct opportunity for inducing trial.

Execution:

Virginia Tech
It was an uphill battle, but with cooperation and negotiation, we were able to implement a third-party ticket promotion with McDonald's at Virginia Tech in the fall. The crux of the promotion was that fans could take their ticket stub (with Farm Bureau logo on the back) into any Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance agent's office, and redeem it for a free McDonald's Double Cheeseburger. We worked with the folks at Virginia Tech to get the McDonald's coupons to Farm Bureau agents around the State, and we alerted all McDonald's stores to be ready for the response.

Virginia Cavaliers
Any 'Hoos fan will tell you that their favorite time of year is Spring. The snow is melting, the flowers are blooming, and the Cavaliers are winning on the field! Baseball and Lacrosse are two of Virginia's premier sports, which is why we focused our member benefit piece around those two programs. Virginia Farm Bureau Members can receive free tickets to all home UVa lacrosse games and all home conference baseball games.

Minor League Baseball
We implemented a membership benefits program at all eight (8) minor league baseball teams so that Virginia Farm Bureau members can get into any minor league baseball game in Virginia in the month of August for FREE.

Results:

Virginia Tech
It was overwhelming. In 2008, over 8,000 people actually walked into Farm Bureau agent’s offices all over the State of Virginia to redeem their ticket. Equity in the promotion has resulted in growth in subsequent years as well.

Virginia Cavaliers
Since the genesis of this promotion, ticket distribution has grown exponentially year over year. In year three we gave members nearly 2,000 free tickets to spring events at UVa.

Minor League Baseball
This promotion has been a Member favorite over the years, and has only been increasing in popularity with over 3,000 baseball tickets given away to members Statewide.

Click here to contact Knox Sports today.

Case Study: Huntington Bank

Situation:

In the footprint of their business - the Upper Midwest - there may not be a more competitive consumer category than Banking. Huntington Bank needed to create a point of difference in their key markets. Sports became the lynchpin for this marketing initiative by providing their loyal customers a valuable local sports asset that only a Huntington Bank customer can receive. This program was implemented in every key Huntington market including Cleveland, the specific example of which is outlined below.

Execution:

In Cleveland, fan passion is centered on the NFL and the Cleveland Browns. The results of some intense negotiation resulted in a promotion whereby Huntington customers simply by virtue of their association would receive two free Browns preseason game tickets.

Knox Sports and Huntington Bank worked together to create an email blast that would be sent to Huntington Bank customers within a 50 miles radius of the Cleveland region, and promoted this effort on the Browns website. The first 500 customers who registered were sent a confirmation page, letting them know they received tickets and that they could pick up their tickets at the Cleveland Browns box office the week leading up to the game.

Results:

The free ticket promotion was extremely successful in its inaugural year. 1,000 (500 pairs) tickets were given away in just 6 hours for the Cleveland Browns vs. Green Bay Packers pre-season game.

In addition, the Browns and Huntington worked on a hugely popular data capture promotion that allowed fans to register for a complete football immersion program during training camp at the Browns facility. This data was used by the local Huntington bank offices to solicit new customers in this market.

Click here to contact Knox Sports today.

SITE MAP

THE KNOX DIFFERENCE

Paul Sickmon Bio

Paul Sickmon
President and CEO
Tampa, Florida
PSickmon@knoxsports.com

Paul founded Knox Sports in 1997 and still actively serves as the President of the company. He is involved in every aspect of the operations and especially enjoys the creativity that turns client interaction into a successful sponsorship contract with a sports property.

Prior to creating Knox Sports, Paul spent ten seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers NFL franchise in the Sales & Marketing Department. As the Director of this department, Paul oversaw all sponsorship and promotional sales, in-game entertainment, and all game day operations for the team. Under his watch, revenue production quadrupled and Paul was recognized by his peers in the NFL for sales excellence on multiple occasions. Sickmon is also credited with creating the first interactive fan area in the NFL, the model from which the current Super Bowl NFL Experience is running.

Before joining the Buccaneers, Paul worked in the athletic offices of Florida State University for 5 years in both the ticketing and marketing departments.

A native of Naples, Italy, the 44 year old Sickmon was raised in Upstate New York and Ocala, Florida. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Florida State University. He and his wife Deborah live in Tampa and have two children son Knox, and daughter Savannah Lee. Paul has coached youth baseball and lacrosse for over 10 years and has a passion for all things Seminole.

Case Study: econofoods

Situation:

An Iowa grocery chain was looking for a prestige account association to drive new store traffic utilizing target demographics of kids’ ages 5-13 to cover entire state.

Execution:

Traffic builder with secondary goal to grow customer database through utilization of frequency card. The grocery store chain had 125,000 entries over a ten week period. Frequency card usage increased by 14% during promotion period.

Results:

Sponsorship of the University of Iowa Hawkeye Basketball team with the“EconoKids” ball boy / ball girl promotion. Multiple winners at every Hawkeye home game. Kids “work” on court and collect basketballs throughout the game, also receive autographed t-shirt, family tickets to the game, arena tour, picture with the mascot or cheerleaders and an introduction during pre-game on court.

Click here to contact Knox Sports concerning increasing traffic today.

Case Study: Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance

Background:

Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance is just like any other company – they want new business. They want new customers to try any of their insurance products (home, life, auto, health), and when they have their business, they feel confident about retaining them.

Trying to get people to walk into an insurance agent’s office is about as easy as getting a child to eat brussels sprouts. So naturally, they called on the experts at Knox Sports for help.

Situation:

The goal is to drive traffic to Farm Bureau agents’ offices. This will familiarize potential customers with location and the office personnel as well as gather data for a future sales call with the direct opportunity for inducing trial.

Execution:

It was an uphill battle, but with cooperation and negotiation, we were able to implement a third-party ticket promotion with Subway at Virginia Tech in fall 2008. The crux of the promotion was that fans could take their ticket stub (with Farm Bureau logo on the back) into any Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance agent’s office, and redeem it for a free 6” sub coupon. We worked with the folks at Virginia Tech to get the Subway coupons to Farm Bureau agents around the State, and we alerted all Subway stores to be ready for the response.

Results:

It was overwhelming. In 2008, over 8,000 people actually walked into Farm Bureau agent’s offices all over the State of Virginia to redeem their ticket. Equity in the promotion has resulted in growth in subsequent years as well.

Click here to contact Knox Sports today.

Case Study: Texas Farm Bureau

Background:

Based in Waco, TX, Texas Farm Bureau Insurance is an insurance company that sells Auto, Home, and Life, and with agents located all over the State of Texas, they are looking to increase market share. With intense competition statewide, Texas Farm Bureau Insurance has turned their focus to sports marketing in an effort to create a point of difference in the marketplace. This point of difference hinges on the very thing that competitors use against them - the annual membership dues.

Situation:

Improve the membership program by adding sports-related benefits to the Texas Farm Bureau Membership, while gathering data to provide to agents for potential new business opportunities.

Execution:

We started off with creating a VIP Experience at Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech as a means to gather data for new customer sales. We purchased domain names and created splash pages:

• Texas: DateWithAGreat.com
• Texas A&M: MaroonContest.com
• Texas Tech: RedRaidersContest.com

These landing pages housed our promotions through football and basketball seasons. Fans could register on these sites to win a VIP game-day experience that was only available through this unique opportunity.

We added a terrific member benefit program during basketball and baseball seasons as well - Texas Farm Bureau Members were able to receive free basketball and baseball tickets at Texas, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech!

Results:

The VIP Experience opportunities were wildly successful in year one supplying more than 1,100 warm leads for Texas Farm Bureau Insurance agents to call upon.

750 tickets were available for the member benefit promotion during basketball, and Texas Farm Bureau Members took full advantage of this benefit blowing through the allotted 750 tickets! The baseball member benefits promotion was even more successful as members claimed over 3,000 free tickets between the three schools. Texas Farm Bureau Insurance recognized the opportunity to continue to say thank you to their members, by purchasing additional tickets and allowing members to receive free tickets through the end of the promotion in both basketball and baseball. Additionally, Texas Farm Bureau expanded the program the next season to five more Texas Universities and every minor league baseball program in the State.

Click here to contact Knox Sports concerning increasing traffic today.

Clients

Our client list ranges from the small business to the Fortune 500 Corporation and varies dramatically by industry.

The common denominator with all our clients is an understanding of the power of sports marketing. Some of the companies that rely on Knox Sports for customized sports sponsorships include:

84 Lumber	“Significant boosts in business following events and we use these events as tools to open doors for our salesmen and build those relationships beyond strict price and product points.” Jim Krejci – Marketing Director 84 Lumber Company
Atlantic Coast Bank
BI-LO	"The Knox Sports team is a true asset to my department. They have helped me develop programs within our sports marketing contracts that truly drive customers into our stores, activate sales, and create loyalty. From our local level partnerships to our major college deals, I completely trust them to put me in the right direction and get the job done! There is nothing they won't do for BI-LO!" Katie Batista BI-LO Events & Sports Marketing Manager
CCM:
Circle K	“Knox Sports Marketing delivers targeted lifestyle campaigns that continuously drive our brand equity through development and activation of local, strategic programs. Through the direction of KSM, we have customized our marketing initiatives and created exciting new programs that cut through the cluttered sports marketing arena.” Ari Rothman Manager of Brand Marketing & Advertising Circle K
Farm Bureau Virginia Florida South Carolina Texas	“We gave the folks at Knox Sports a test in 2006 with just a few deals. Today we entrust them to completely manage all 19 sports partnerships in the State of Virginia on our behalf, which has saved us an immense amount of time and energy. Combine this effort with the ROI models we have created now, and we could not be happier with Knox Sports.” Matt Smith Marketing Manager Virginia Farm Bureau Insurance Company
Huntington
Hooters
Kanes	“I have personally worked with the folks at Knox Sports for more than 20 years. I consider myself a terrific contract negotiator, but with Knox Sports expertise, our sports marketing has transcended to another level. Last year, our sponsorships delivered almost 40,000 unique visitors into our Central Florida stores. Sports Marketing can deliver success, and we knew where to find it.” Irwin Novack President Kane’s Furniture
Land O’ Frost	“In 2001 Land O’ Frost and Knox Sports came up with a youth sports Marketing initiative. In the first year of this program we were in 11 markets across the country; sponsored a little over 1,000 teams and Land O’ Frost was the 7th largest lunchmeat company in the country. Since then, we have grown our youth sports program to 29 markets; we now sponsor over 10,000 teams and Land O’ Frost is the 3rd largest lunchmeat company in the country. Knox Sports executes and manages this entire program for us. We could not imagine doing it without them!” Stephan Williams Vice President of Marketing Land O’ Frost
Surgery Partners
St. Pete Times
Nash Finch

CONTACT US

New Business Department
Attention Jennifer Kniese

e-mail Jennifer

Comments and Suggestions
Knox Sports Marketing© Copyright 1998-

CASE STUDIES

At Knox Sports, we understand that each client is different. Every company has a unique and specific goal for its athletic sponsorship.

The team at Knox Sports listens, and then uses our experience and creativity to develop partnerships that achieve stated corporate goals. These case studies demonstrate some of the inventive methods Knox Sports has employed to get our clients the results they demand from their sports partnership.

Put Knox Sports to work for your company today.