SportsMark Client, Yingli Solar, Featured in the New York Times

An Underdog Amid the Giants Lining the World Cup’s Fields

As the 2010 World Cup nears its finale on Sunday, television viewers will have a few more days to watch a scrappy unknown strive to be noticed. Only this newcomer is not competing on the soccer fields, but rather on the signs surrounding them.

SportsMark Participates in SportsBusiness Daily's World Cup Roundtable: Sponsors, Cities, Travel Examined

THE DAILY today offers the second of our FIFA World Cup roundtables, in which we offer an on-the-ground perspective on South Africa's handling of the World Cup. Today, George Washington Univ. associate professor of tourism & sports management Lisa Delpy Neirotti, SportsMark Management Group President Keith Bruce, Georgetown Univ. Sports Industry Management program Associate Dean Matt Winkler and Octagon Exec VP Simon Wardle offer their insights on the best sponsors and stadiums, as well as a glimpse at the trials and tribulations of traveling around South Africa. Bruce’s SportsMark manages on-site activation for official FIFA sponsors Visa, Sony and Yingli Solar and represents Match Hospitality as the official sales agent for North America.

Event Marketer Names SportsMark One of the Top 100 Event Agencies

 “Literally, the best hospitality agency in the business, SportsMark thinks strategically when it comes to “hosting programs” and it shows. To prove the point, we direct you to the Bell Canada program in Vancouver, which rewrote every single rule of hospitality—from the hotels to the flights to the guest experience to the food to the touchpoints to the metrics to the… oh, you know what we’re sayin’. Solid. Like a rock.”

To read about SportsMark in Event Marketer, please visit

http://www.eventmarketer.com/agencyitlist/sportsmark-management-group

SportsMark Rocks Super Bowl XLIV with Visa and CBS

Days before the start of the Vancouver Olympic Games, SportsMark managed corporate hospitality programs and produced outstanding events and concerts for two important partners of Super Bowl XLIV, as we continued our long standing Super Bowl relationships with Visa and CBS. The two programs, which were quite different in scope, proved to be the most impressive Super Bowl activation to date, according to both clients.

SportsMark at the NCAA Final Four with The Hartford and CBS

The NCAA Final Four continues to be a significant event for SportsMark and our clients. This year, we continued our longstanding partnerships with NCAA Corporate Partner, The Hartford and broadcaster, CBS, creating truly memorable guest experiences for our clients and their important guests.

SportsMark Ready to Kickoff the FIFA World Cup™

SportsMark began work on the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ more than three years ago, and with only a short time until guests arrive, our operations, creative, and technology teams in South Africa and around the globe are relentlessly preparing to execute our client programs.

SportsMark Acquires Connexions Sports and Entertainment

SportsMark Management Group has acquired Connexions Sports and Entertainment, a sports marketing agency specializing in sponsorship sales, athlete marketing, and sports property management.

World Cup a 1-month ad in US for 'beautiful game'

CHICAGO — From California to the Carolinas, from soccer aficionados to those who can just about pick David Beckham out in a tabloid photo, the World Cup is generating some serious buzz in the United States. Americans have bought more tickets than people from any country besides host South Africa despite the lengthy and expensive trip. ESPN and ABC are planning the kind of broadcast bonanza normally reserved for a Super Bowl. Players are edging supermodels off magazine covers.

SportsMark Announced as Finalist For Sports Event Marketing Firm of the Year; Clients Visa & CBS Receive Awards

We are proud to announce that SportsMark was recognized as a finalist in the Sports Business Awards in the Sports Event Marketing Firm category for the third year in a row.

San Francisco 49ers Foundation and SportsMark Team Up for the 10th Annual Celebrity Winter Fest

In March, SportsMark managed the San Francisco 49ers Foundation 10^th Annual Celebrity Winter Fest, the premier fundraising event for the Foundation, in Squaw Valley, California. Since its inception in 2001, SportsMark has brought this event to life with a full range of event management services.

SportsMark Client The Hartford Opens the NYSE

The Hartford CEO Liam McGee this morning rang the Opening Bell at the NYSE in celebration of the company's 200th anniversary. McGee posed with Richard Childress Racing's No. 33 Sprint Cup car driven by Clint Bowyer, for which The Hartford serves as the primary sponsor for three races this season, including last Saturday's Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. The company is an associate sponsor for the car for all other races in '10.

South Africa World Cup CEO Says Only 140,000 Tickets Remain for Event

The '10 FIFA World Cup organizing committee has just 140,000 tickets remaining and expects to sell out of all of its ticket inventory, organizing committee CEO Danny Jordaan said today at a press conference in N.Y.

SportsMark Clients Recognized as “Winning Olympics Hospitality Venues”

Special Events Magazine recognized SportsMark’s Olympic sponsor clients Visa and Procter & Gamble for their “Winning 2010 Olympics Hospitality Venues”.  SportsMark Creative Services worked closely with Visa and P&G to produce and implement custom designs and buildouts for these hospitality venues. 

For more information and to view photos please visit: http://specialevents.com/corporate/2010-olympics-hospitality-venues/

FIFA World Cup - Top 10 Games Of The Group Stage

While heroes, villains and legendary teams are made in the knockout stages of the World Cup, that doesn't stop the group phase from having its own set of endearing qualities. It's a period when even the wildest dreams seem possible, even for the tiniest of minnows. And there have been plenty of occasions when these supposed little fish have feasted on some of the bigger names.

Yingli Green Energy Appoints SportsMark To Develop Sponsorship Program for 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa

SAN RAFAEL, CA, March 8, 2010 – The first Chinese company to seal a global sponsorship deal with FIFA, Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Limited (“Yingli Green Energy” or “Yingli”), which holds the brand Yingli Solar, appointed SportsMark Management Group, a global sports marketing, corporate hospitality, and event management company, to develop Yingli’s sponsorship activation platform and corporate hospitality program for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™.

World Cup Stadiums on Display

For the last three years, members of the media have been coming to SAFA House, the head office of the 2010 FIFA World Cup Organising Committee, to be briefed on the host country’s preparations. In that time they have had the opportunity to see for themselves the tournament’s flagship stadium, Soccer City, rise from the ground to the point where the final touches are being made to the stadium precinct.

SportsMark Client Bell Canada in the News

Learn how Bell Canada VP-Olympic Marketing Loring Phinney’s hospitality program is already paying back after the Vancouver Olympics.  As published by Event Marketer. http://www.eventmarketer.com/article/lord-rings

SportsMark Client, P&G’s Family Home Profiled by Event Marketer

In what may be the fastest turnaround of an Olympic sponsorship deal ever, Procter & Gamble signed, sealed and then delivered its first-ever P&G Family Home in about 60 days.

SportsMark Client Visa Changes Olympic Strategy, Focuses on ROI

Grand Central Station is more than 2,400 miles from Vancouver, but that didn’t stop Visa from bringing the Winter Olympics to New Yorkers this month.

The company has blanketed Grand Central’s subway corridor with 3D video and static images from its Olympic-themed advertising campaign, “Go World.” It’s just one in a series of examples of how the company is approaching this Olympics differently than any other in its 20-year history of associating with the Games.

Procter & Gamble Adds 'Thanks Mom' Effort to Vancouver Olympics Push

The Procter & Gamble Co. is going for marketing gold at the Winter Olympic Games.

The consumer products maker on Thursday unveiled a "Thanks, Mom" campaign, with commercials highlighting the role of U.S. athletes' mothers while also offering them financial help with Vancouver travel expenses. The campaign adds to its earlier support of the team with sponsorship dollars, a Vancouver family meeting place and advertising deals with such stars as skier Lindsey Vonn and speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno.

Pete Moore Named SportsMark’s Great Performer for 2009

We are pleased to announce that the 2009 SportsMark Great Performer Award was presented to Pete Moore, Director, Olympic Operations. This annual award, which is voted on by our peers at SportsMark, recognizes employees for their exceptional commitment to quality, customer service, and dedication to the company.

Throughout 2009, Pete was commended for his positive attitude and exemplary teamwork and leadership skills, as he leads our Olympic operations team towards excellence during the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. Please join us in recognizing Pete for this outstanding achievement and for his contributions to SportsMark and our Vancouver client programs.

Catch All The Olympic Action from Vancouver

Every four years the icy cold winter means hot competition with the Winter Olympic Games. Vancouver is the host city for the 2010 Winter Games or its more official title The XXI Winter Olympics. The competition commences on February 12 through February 28 and airs daily on NBC. For winter sport fans, that means 17 complete days of watching the worlds best athletes fighting for gold in the top winter sports. 

Cape Town Should Be Your Goal

Hunkering down against the wind-whipped, cloud-shrouded summit of Table Mountain, my first thought was that the bottom of Africa is pretty much the tops. The 360-degree vista of Cape Town was striking against a sky painted a rich lapis lazuli and from the pinnacle of the mountain the city quite literarily seems to unfold all the way to the ends of the earth. Indeed, the closest landmass to it other than Africa is Antarctica.

IEG Publishes Sponsorship and Hospitality Insights from SportsMark’s Keith Bruce

With a client roster that includes The Procter & Gamble Co., Visa Inc. and other blue-chip companies, SportsMark Management Group has earned a reputation as a leading sports marketing firm with a specialty in corporate hospitality.

IEG SR recently spoke with Keith Bruce, SportsMark president, about the state of hospitality, challenges faced by sponsorship, and the impact of the upcoming Olympic Winter Games and FIFA World Cup, among other topics. Below are edited excerpts from the conversation.

Vancouver to Host More Than Olympic Games

To encourage tourism around this year's Winter Olympic Games, Vancouver is hosting a "Cultural Olympiad," which will hopefully sway attendees to stick around for more than just the sporting events.

Vancouver2010.com for a list of events in the Cultural Olympiad program.