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NCAA News Release
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CBS Sports And The NCAA RetainMKTG.Partners To Produce And Market The NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Final Four Fan Fests
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For Immediate Release
Wednesday, September 8, 2004
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Contact(s)
CBS: Jennifer Sabatelle
212/975-4120 or jsabatelle@cbs.com
NCAA: Erik Christianson
317/917-6117 or echristianson@ncaa.org
MKTG.partners: Howard Schacter
917/579-0727 or howard@mktgpartners.net
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK and INDIANAPOLIS---CBS Sports and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA�) announced today that marketing services agency MKTG.partners has been retained to provide creative development, production management and marketing services for "Hoop City�," the annual NCAA-themed festival that attracts thousands of fans on site at both the NCAA Division I Men's and Women's Final Fours�.
The three-year assignment includes helping CBS Sports and the NCAA re-design "Hoop City," beginning with the 2005 NCAA Division I Men's Final Four in St. Louis and the Women's Final Four in Indianapolis. The interactive festival, which features a wide range of athletic, historical and multimedia elements that appeal to fans of all ages, debuted in 1988.
"'Hoop City' has been a terrific vehicle for extending the passion of the Men's and Women's Final Fours to fans," said Michael L. Aresco, CBS Sports senior vice-president, programming. "It has also provided an opportunity for our NCAA Corporate Champions, including Cingular, Coca-Cola and Pontiac; and our NCAA Corporate Partners, including Kraft, Monster and The Hartford, to connect with fans on a personal basis. Each year, we challenge ourselves to make the event an even better experience for everyone involved, and MKTG.partners brought us a new way to approach the property that we believe will result in tremendous excitement for fans and increased return on investment for our NCAA Corporate Champions and Partners."
Added Tom Jernstedt, NCAA executive vice-president, "We are very excited about our plans to take 'Hoop City' to another level. The event serves as an important component of our ongoing efforts to communicate the values of the NCAA, and it's clear that CBS Sports and MKTG.partners have taken this objective to heart in developing the roadmap for the future of the property."
The re-designed event will incorporate an "NCAA destination" thematic that will reveal itself in on-site aesthetics, content, marketing programs, merchandise and more.
"We approached this assignment from the perspective of the fan, asking ourselves, 'Why would I spend my time and money at an event like Hoop City, and what would make me want to come back again,'" said Charlie Horsey of MKTG.partners, who leads the agency's Creative Solutions team. "We developed a plan that answers those questions, while also being careful to design ways in which the NCAA Corporate Champions and Partners can utilize the property more effectively to build stronger and more meaningful relationships with attendees."
Based in New York City, MKTG.partners is a consumer-centric marketing services agency recently launched by a group of senior marketers that includes three former Clear Channel Entertainment (CCE) executives. They include Paula Balzer, who most recently served as CCE's chief marketing officer; Charlie Horsey, who was chief executive of CCE's event marketing subsidiary CMI; and Howard Schacter, who was CCE's senior vice-president of communications. The agency has tapped industry veteran John Mousseau, formerly with Fogdog Sports and MasterCard International, to supervise the agency's CBS Sports/NCAA account team. Other partners of the agency include Evan and Glenn Greenberg, principals of media buying and planning firm Allscope Media, which provides research and analytic tools to MKTG.partners.
About the NCAA
The NCAA is a membership-led nonprofit association of colleges and universities committed to supporting academic and athletic opportunities for more than 360,000 student-athletes at more than 1,000 member colleges and universities. Each year, more than 49,000 student-athletes compete in NCAA Championships in Division I, II and III sports. For more information, go to www.ncaa.org.
About MKTG.partners
Founded in 2003, MKTG.partners is a marketing services agency based in New York City. While the agency specializes in the development and marketing of branded content, MKTG.partners relies on consumer insight analytics to develop and execute creative solutions that help clients including Coca-Cola USA, CBS Sports, Nike, Playtex Products, Inc., Tommy Hilfiger, Smart System Technologies and others build national and global brands. For more information, visit www.mktgpartners.net.
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