As Visa U.S.A. looks ahead to the fifth year of its National Football League sponsorship, the future of the marquee alliance is up in the air.
Last week, when Visa unveiled its marketing campaign for the fall season, the last under its current contract, it would not say whether it planned to renew the deal. The NFL's popularity may make this the most coveted U.S. sports sponsorship, and Visa executives say the affiliation has boosted their brand.
Industry sources said Visa spent $40 million on the five-year sponsorship, but the price tag is likely going up.
"Six months ago I would have said Visa will for sure renew its sponsorship," said Steven J. Smith, president of S.J. Smith & Associates in Scarsdale, N.Y. "But the primary value of a sponsorship is at the brand level, and as issuers are questioning more and more the association brand versus issuer brand, these things come into question."
Mr. Smith was referring to the issue that came to the fore recently when top executives of Citigroup publicly complained that association spending and marketing efforts were at cross-purposes with the Citi brand. The disagreement led Citigroup chairman John Reed and consumer bank executive Robert Lipp to leave the Visa board, and Citigroup intends to issue more MasterCards as a result.
Richard G. Barlow, president of Frequency Marketing Inc. in Milford, Ohio, said he thought Visa would continue the NFL tie, and said it would be "a good strategic move."
If Visa bowed out, a competing brand such as American Express or Discover could swoop in, and "that's not going to help any (bank) issuer," Mr. Barlow said.
Visa said the NFL sponsorship has contributed to banks' bottom lines. The association points to NFL-sponsored research that found 79% of the 70 million NFL fans are most loyal to products and services provided by NFL sponsors.
"The NFL represents the largest fan base of all sports in America," said Michael Lynch, vice president of event marketing at Visa. "We have been able to capture this fan loyalty to drive incremental Visa usage."
Visa said it is putting promotional materials together far ahead of football season, to give merchants and member banks ample time to use them.
MBNA Corp. has its own sponsorship deal for exclusive rights to market credit cards in football stadiums-and to use NFL logos on cards-until 2004.
Though Wilmington, Del.-based MBNA is predominantly a MasterCard issuer, its NFL cards are Visa-branded.
In light of that arrangement, some experts question how useful Visa's NFL program is to other banks. Visa said all members can use NFL logos in promotional material, just not on their cards.
Mr. Smith said the availability of MBNA's cobranded NFL cards made it difficult for Visa "to translate the program from a brand level to the issuer level."
Mr. Barlow of Frequency Marketing contended that the program "works for the other issuers by strengthening the Visa brand."
Visa's latest campaign is characteristically splashy. A "Once-in-a- Lifetime NFL Fantasies" contest gives Visa cardholders a chance to choose a football-related "fantasy" that might include playing catch with an NFL quarterback, watching a playoff game at home with an NFL player, participating in the Super Bowl halftime show, or acting as an honorary coach at the Pro Bowl game in Hawaii.
The sweepstakes will run in September and October. Every Visa purchase will be entered in a lottery, and one winner will be chosen each week.
For the first time, all aspects of the NFL campaign will run under one tag line: "Visa. It's everywhere NFL fans want to be." One logo-a picture of a fan holding up a handwritten sign with the tag line-will appear on all promotional material.
After reviewing three agencies, Visa chose BBDO New York, its agency of record, to lead the entire campaign, with some parts to be handled by BBDO's sister companies. In previous years, various agencies were responsible for different parts of the campaign.
"Our focus this year was how can we make all of our efforts more synergistic," said Rebecca Saeger, executive vice president of advertising and marketing services at Visa in San Francisco. "We've never done something where everywhere a football fan looks, they're reminded of Visa's affiliation with the game."
On-line advertising will play a larger role. Visa expects that a noticeable part of the $3 billion of NFL merchandise sold annually will be purchased over the Internet.
Visa is setting up links to on-line stores that sell NFL memorabilia and that will tout Visa as the preferred payment choice. The association's Web site will promote the sweepstakes and other aspects of the campaign.
Three commercials will run throughout the season, all featuring NFL fans. One will advertise the fantasy promotion, and the others will depict Visa's acceptance at locations relevant to football fans.
To encourage merchants to display point of sale promotional materials, Visa is offering retailers three trips to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii as prizes.
"A lot of our job is getting the merchants excited about this and helping them see the power it has to drive their business," Ms. Saeger said.
