Pop Tarts and Roses
What the Pop Tart and Rose Bowls taught us about NIL
Wrapping up the 2023 CFB season with key lessons on NIL.
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It has been a crazy beginning to the year 2024, but better late than never to get out one last newsletter about the CFB bowl season. Many complained about the bowl opt outs and transfer portal and NIL cash grabs, but those who whined simply weren’t looking close enough.
Fourteen bowl games were decided by one possession including both CFP semifinals in what was a memorable and classic Playoff.
But I get it, keep opining about the 63-3 Orange Bowl.
I think as the CFP expands to 12 teams next year, the games are only going to get better at season’s end. Georgia probably should have had a chance to become the first three-peat champion since Minnesota in the ‘30s and including more teams will create more chaos while allowing the most ‘best’ team to prevail.
The Pop Tart Phenomenon
Kansas State won the first ever Pop Tart Bowl and the game will live forever in the hearts of all fans for what took place afterwards.
Kellanova has sponsored the bowl game since 2020, but has always used one of their snacks as the bowl name. This year they switched from Cheeze-It to Pop Tart and received an estimated $12.1M in media exposure from the game.
The Pop Tart is a near billion-dollar product line alone ($978M in sales in 2022) and is estimated to have received 25 percent brand value bump from the bowl game.
There are three reasons as to why the name is the most important factor for brand success:
Name: Everyone knows what a Pop Tart is. Nobody would get excited for the Kellanova bowl.
Nostalgia: The Pop Tart was invented in 1963; so near all generations know what the snack is.
Social Media Interaction: Everything the marketing team did was perfectly tailored for fans to interact with across the Internet.
From the trophy design to having a giant toaster on the field, the marketing was clever. It resonated because 99 percent of the population knew what a Pop Tart is.
However, what made this marketing ploy so successful was because they had a mascot who was engaging.
The giant Pop Tart mascot was a dancing, mischievous machine. The life of the party getting funky with the other team mascots, flying out of toasters and even sneaking up on the referee during a commercial break.
Yet, this Pop Tart had an expiration date. When the game ended, he would fulfill his life-long goal of begin eaten, consumed, devoured by the winning team. He would be lowered into the giant toaster—his own custom electric chair—to be sacrificed as a reward to those victorious athletes.
It caught fans off guard; cue the internet memes.
Instant legendary status.
When you think about your brand; you want to be able to elicit that kind of reaction from your fan base.
It will take time for the reputation to grow and boldness on your part to make your name stand for something.
The Rose Bowl
Once you have developed your name as holding incredible brand value for yourself, you need to protect that name at all costs and ensure it is not marred by others.
For example, The Rose Bowl has spent the last century to build the value of their name to be considered by a majority of fans to be the best CFB game every year no matter who is playing in it or what the stakes are.
Just how valuable has the Rose Bowl name become?
It has an estimated brand value north of $100M; has an economic impact of $200M for the city of Pasadena; and has been argued by many fans that it should host the national championship game every year.
There are four reasons as to why this game is considered the ‘Granddaddy of them all’:
History: Began in 1902; has played every year since 1916
Physical Real Estate: Pristine California weather with a beautiful mountain backdrop
Calendar Real Estate: Same day and time every year. Fans can count on it.
Best Teams & National Title Bouts: Vince Young to the corner is seared into every fan’s memory.
And the biggest reason is that the Rose Bowl Committee fights feverishly to protect the game, and the name, at all costs. They don’t just invite anyone to play there; they demand the best and same TV spot; the CFP or ESPN cannot use the Rose Bowl name without permission and the location is not changed unless due to drastic, life-threatening circumstances (only ever moved due to WWII and Covid-19).
Because of all this, fans know what to expect when they watch the Rose Bowl.
It is imperative that you be just as strict with protecting your name. Do not let brands just use your name; do not sponsor just any product or post just anything online. Be intentional; your consistent actions compound over time.
Hail to the Champions
The Michigan Wolverines won their first national championship since 1997. The third time was the charm for Jim Harbaugh and company, who claimed innocence about their much discussed sign stealing scheme.
Harbaugh was suspended the first three and last three regular season games for two different—albeit light—infractions of recruiting and advanced scouting.
As I wrote in an earlier newsletter when this story broke, you want to ensure that all you do is above board with your school, sport and NIL partnerships.
Michigan won. Was the cheating that bad? No; although it seems obvious that they disrespected the integrity of the sport.
And that is simply disappointing.