In the midst of your holiday preparations and jubilations, you — along with the rest of America — probably missed the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl. Played on December 23, the game pitted the barely-ranked Utah Utes against the unranked Cal State Bears. (FYI – Utah won.)

No one, it seems, likes this name of this bowl game.

It’s almost impossible for sports writers and bloggers to mention the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl without ridiculing the name. Gentler critics describe it as the longest name for a bowl game, perhaps in the entire history of bowl games. Others think it is “the least catchiest name in sports.” Some go so far as to call it “grand champion for worst bowl name ever,” such as U.S. News & World Report who included San Diego County Credit Union in its list of “The Worst College Bowl Sponsors.”

Comments from general public on the name hold no punches:

• “Who the f*** wants to play in the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl????”
• “Come for the low-rate fixed home loans and poisonous plants, stay for the football!”
• “What’s better than your bowl being named after a plant? Having a local credit union sponsor it!”
• “San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl? Longest bowl name ever. Like I’m gonna buy your product now. I live in [effing] Alabama.”
• “How the f*** is a credit union big enough to host a bowl game? I smell a ponzi scheme.”

Reality Check: At seven words and 15 syllables, the name is so long and so unwieldy that it will inevitably get shortened. “SD County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl.” “SDCCU Poinsettia Bowl.” Or just the “Poinsettia Bowl.” Can you imagine being the announcer for this game?

San Diego County Credit Union has sponsored the Poinsettia Bowl ever since it was created in 2005. SDCCU recently extended its title sponsorship through 2010, with options for 2011 and 2012. With $4.8 billion in assets, over 200,000 members and 25 branches, San Diego County Credit Union is the largest in its area.

The Poinsettia Bowl committee says it has created an aggregate impact on the local economy of $45.5 million since the game’s inception in 2005. According to the committee, last year’s game generated $17.6 million for the San Diego area.

“With the addition of the Poinsettia Bowl four years ago and its pre-Christmas playing date, we are filling hotel rooms and providing patrons for restaurants and shops during one of San Diego’s slowest weeks of the tourism year,” said 2008 President Larry Baber.

Key Questions:

• Is any publicity or exposure good, no matter the context?
• What does this sponsorship cost? If it only cost $50,000, would it be easier to forgive the awkward name?
• Where is the strategic alignment of audience and opportunity? Why sponsor a nationally-televised bowl game when your geographic field of membership is limited to one county in one state? (The credit union’s field of membership actually includes three counties.)
• Is the primary San Diego audience likely to make positive connections between the credit union and the impact on the local economy? Or are they more likely to cringe at a strange and silly sounding name for a bowl game (like the rest of America)?

There are now 35 games in the bloated bowl season schedule. Fourteen bowl games are played on- or after January 1, including the venerated FedEx Orange Bowl and the Rose Bowl presented by Citi. Sports fans know that these are the games that matter. There are another 21 bowl games played before New Year’s Day, most of little consequence because they pair teams with records barely above .500. With names like the “R + L Carriers New Orleans Bowl” and “Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl,” it’s not hard to understand why so few people care.

A big, inflatable NFL jersey…that is.

BofA used an old standby — the stamina contest — in its promo for this year’s NFL kickoff. No fancy Web 2.0-style microsite. No online social media component. Nope. Their Now Prove It Challenge tested fans’ limits as they attempted to outlast one another by continuously touching a giant 20-foot inflatable team jersey. The last fan standing won a pair of tickets to every 2008 regular season home game of their favorite team.

The Now Prove It challenge took place in the hometowns of the Carolina Panthers, Dallas Cowboys, New England Patriots and Washington Redskins. All four teams are sponsored by BofA.

The contest in Washington, D.C., started at noon on a Wednesday and ended 19 hours later.

As the Official Bank of the NFL since 2007, Bank of America provides NFL-themed personal banking products nationwide, including credit cards with the logos of each of the 32 NFL teams.

Key Takeaway: This kind of promotion can be deployed by any sized financial institution anytime. The thing people keep their hands on doesn’t need to be a jersey (how about a Prius?). And you don’t have to give away season tickets (how about a Prius?).

There’s much talk about Web 2.0 and social media in the financial space these days. Often, you get the impression that you’re failing if you don’t have a MySpace page, a Facebook account, a blog, a Twitter account, etc.

Reality Check:

• Most people don’t want to hang out at a website created by a bank or credit union. There are very, very few examples to the contrary.
• Financial institutions grossly underestimate the immense amounts of time, energy and money it takes to create even a semi-successful Web 2.0 presence.
• Web 2.0 is all about creating content and engagement. What can you offer (and to whom?) that isn’t already available somewhere else in a better, bigger, or more well-known online venue?
• Don’t listen to anyone who mandates a specific Web 2.0 tool for your financial institution. Web 2.0 tools are simply a means to an end. They are not the only way to reach Gen-Y. There are other ways to reach the same audience.

The Make/Buy Decision

Building your own Web 2.0 presence from scratch isn’t the only option. You can successfully “draft” off someone who already has an established online reputation.

For example, take KeyBank. They teamed up with Etch-a-Sketch sensation and YouTube celebrity George Vlosich. This viral, time-lapse video shows the Etch-A-Sketch portrait of NBA star Carmelo Anthony as it was being drawn.

More than a million viewers have seen the KeyBank video on sites across the internet. The campaign won top honors at this year’s ABA awards ceremony.

If KeyBank set out to produce its own viral video, what would they have made? And how many people would have watched it?

Here’s another example: Citibank’s recent sponsorship of the popular Aussie entertainment website, ninemsn.

And then there’s Forum Credit Union, based in Indianapolis, who sponsors the Colts Fan Forum, an interactive subsection of the official NFL Colts.com website. The forum boasts 1,673 topics with 42,147 comments from its 9,395 members.

The site says there are over 1,500 active members. There were over 150 registered users online at the time this article was written. That’s 150 opportunities in one day to expose users to a Forum Credit Union marketing message as each one signs in. Not to mention the opportunities presented as each new user signs-up.

Reality Check: The NFL’s Colts might be able to get 10,000 fans at a website to a talk about something they are deeply passionate about. If you build your own Web 2.0 presence, how many people do you think you can draw? You don’t have Peyton Manning, so what do you have to offer?

Tips & Advice

If you’re going to partner with an existing, established online success, here are some tips:

1. Think locally.
   Whether you’re a huge regional bank or a small town credit union, you want an online community that covers your geographic area and not much more. You want to minimize “waste” just like you would with any media. You don’t buy TV channels in markets you’re not in, so why would you do something similar online? Pick the right partner and you’ll make sure you’re reaching the right audience.
2. Negotiate an exclusive.
   If you can’t be the only marketer tied to the website, event, etc., at least ensure you’re the only financial institution.
3. Someone needs to own it.
   There are no easy solutions. You can’t just write a check and expect big results. To maximize your opportunities, someone needs to be answering questions, representing your financial institution and interacting with the online community you’re sponsoring. Your logo gets you halfway to first base. Your people, your presence and your participation are what make you a well-respected member of an online community.  (Note: It will probably require at least 20 hours a week.)
4. Be creative.
   In what ways can you participate? A special profile in the community? What freebies can you offer? Where does your logo go? Banner ads? Email marketing? Can you sponsor a special section of the community? What can you do offline? How can you promote your relationship with the community to a broader audience?
5. Understand your motives.
   If you’re looking to build business, you’ll have to make sure your partner gives you opportunities to do more than slap a logo in a few places. You might be creating tons of “engagement,” but if it doesn’t help drive new business with your organization, you seriously need to ask yourself: “Why are we doing this?” You could certainly partner with an online community for purely altruistic motives. If that’s the case, just be clear with everyone on your team that it’s a CSR initiative. People in your organization need to know what to expect. Otherwise, someone will throw it back in your face someday and your partnership will get the axe.

Bottom Line: Establishing a significant, respected and credible online presence by teaming-up with a website, forum, venue or personality that already has a community of followers can take a lot less time and energy than trying to create something from scratch. Of course it will cost more, but it’s about as close to a shortcut as you’ll find. And it still takes a lot of energy (read: “manpower”) to successfully support it.

Earlier this year, The Financial Brand reported on Citi’s record-setting $400 million sponsorship of the New York Mets stadium.

Now, not to be outdone, Bank of America is after an even bigger deal to sponsor the New York Yankees stadium. Any sponsorship of the highly-venerated New York Yankees stadium is expected to eclipse the Citi/Mets deal, worth $20 million a year for 20 years. That will likely place the B of A sponsorship at around half a billion dollars.

Such astronomical sponsorships are increasingly becoming the norm among financial institutions. Recently, Barclay’s also climbed into the stadium sponsorship stratosphere with its $400 million, 20-year deal for the New Jersey Nets stadium.

Key Fact: Citi and Barclay’s have lost billions of dollars in the last year. B of A, on the other hand, has continued posting positive net income into the billions over the last three consecutive quarters — arguably one of the toughest periods ever for financial institutions.

Even if you view such sponsorships as an unnecessary extravagance, at least B of A’s sponsorship of the Yankees would be on-brand for the bank. After years of floundering around with an implausible service promise, “Higher Standards,” Bank of America is now embracing its patriotic name and building a brand around all things American. Among the bank’s other sponsorships:

• The U.S. Olympic Team
• NASCAR
• Official sponsor of Major League Baseball
• MLB team sponsorships of the Yankees, Boston Red Sox and eight other teams
• Official sponsor of the National Football League
• NFL team sponsorships of the New England Patriots, Washington Redskins, Dallas Cowboys and Carolina Panthers (including the Panthers’ stadium).

The Panthers don’t really fit B of A’s portfolio, but the bank is “buying love” in its own backyard, Charolette, North Carolina, where the bank is based.

Reality Check: These sponsorships aren’t just about the branding and marketing opportunities they create. There’s also the personal motivations of executives who want luxury boxes at America’s prestige sports venues. Often, the rationalization goes something like this: “We can use those skyboxes to close big, important deals.”

At least in B of A’s case, they are maximizing their sponsorships through affinity products and services, such as debit cards featuring people’s favorite sport’s icons.

Why not blow it all on naming rights for the NY Mets ballpark?

That’s what Citibank is doing. $20 million a year for 20 years.

That’s $400 million. For a sponsorship.

Think about it. 95% of all credit unions in America don’t even have that much in assets.

Citibank’s annual marketing budget is only $500 million (you’re saying “Onllllyy…”). They’ll be pumping 4% of it into the name of one ballpark in one market. And we aren’t even talking about the Yankees here. We’re talking about the Mets.

Alas, if Citibank knew then what it knows now.

You see, it was back in November 2006 when they signed the deal, and they had just ended their third quarter with net income of $5.3 billion. Yes, that’s with a “B.” Billion.

But those were the subprime days…

According to the NY Times, Citibank has lost $17 billion (again, with a B) in the last nine months – including a $2.5 billion loss last Friday.

During that time, the company has cut about 28,000 jobs. Backing out of this deal could have saved how many jobs?

But Citibank isn’t flinching. A Citi spokesman says they remain “strongly committed” to the sponsorship. Dave Howard, the Mets EVP/Ops, backs that up, saying that Citi hasn’t expressed any jitters.

Relatively Speaking: Too bad the Oakland Athletics couldn’t get $400 million from Cisco for the naming rights for their new ballbark. If they had got a $400 million sponsorship deal for Cisco Field (scheduled to open in 2012), that sucker would be paid for. That’s what the whole stadium cost. Instead, the Athletics got a $120 million – meager by comparison – in a deal worth $4 million a year for 30 years. That’s one-fifth of what Citi paid.

Other things that can cost you $400 million:

• Talk radio host Rush Limbaugh for 8 years
• One retirement package for the CEO of an oil company (the biggest in history)
• One campaign warchest to run for the presidency of the United States
• One super-hightech new helicopter to shuttle the next U.S. president around
  (Gotta love Americans. One president, but we need 28 ‘Marine Ones?’ Why?)
• Distribution rights for the Beatles entire catalog <— EDITOR’S PICK
• IT and communications infrastructure for Beijing Olympic Games
• Making Spider Man 3
• Rebuilding the I-35W bridge that collapsed in Minnesota

Via: Ron Shevlin (thanks!)

Bank of America recently announced that it was introducing its first ever NASCAR-themed ad.

The 30 second spot titled “Who’s Your Driver?” features footage of a number of top NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers whose likenesses are available on NASCAR Banking check cards and credit cards. Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne, Juan Pablo Montoya and Martin Truex Jr., are featured in the new ad and are among the most popular drivers featured.

This ad is Bank of America’s third major campaign this year focused on sports fans, including deals with the Olympics and Major League Baseball (press release here). The brand has been very focused on upbeat, uplifting messages like “America’s Cheer 2008” (previous coverage from The Financial Brand here).

This latest spot starts with the line, “This is America, and you have the freedom to cheer.”

B of A has a good promotional tie-in with its co-branded debit and credit cards. At a special section of its website called “NASCAR RacePoints,” the bank details how you can earn points and “burn” them using their plastic products. You earn one RacePoint for every $4 in net retail check card purchases, and can spend them on exclusive NASCAR experiences, race tickets, NASCAR licensed products and goodies like flat panel TVs, iPods and much more.

Use the NASCAR card, get NASCAR stuff. “Earn and burn.” It’s a nice, self-reinforcing promotion.

Bank of America first launched its NASCAR program in 2007. As the “Official Bank of NASCAR,” B of A can offer NASCAR themed checks, debit and credit cards. B of A calls it ‘NASCAR Banking.’

“Our affinity products are some of the fastest growing products we have at the bank. And the NASCAR products are in the top 10 of those,” says Mike Hargrave, an executive with Bank of America’s NASCAR program.

It’s worth noting that B of A is headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the heart of NASCAR country.

The NASCAR Banking ads, produced by worldwide advertising behemoth BBDO, won’t be running nationally until July.

You can read the full script for the spot on page 2. You can read B of A’s full press release here.

Bottom Line: NASCAR is on-brand for B of A. They should be the sponsor of American traditions like NASCAR. After all, their name is Bank of America. They’ve sponsored the Dallas Cowboys — “America’s Team” — for over two decades. The Olympics. MLB. And this announcement from today: the U.S. military. All things American. This is a much better, much more believable brand direction than “Higher Standards.” Two thumbs up.

Key Takeaway: Affinity products are a great way to engage people with a financial brand and counteract the dull, stodgy and boring image associated with the average bank or credit union. What brands can you link with? (Note: You don’t have to be a major brand, nor do you have to pick a major brand to partner with to succeed with this strategy.)

The Beijing Games are scheduled to start four months from now, but that’s not stopping Bank of America from jumping on the bandwagon early.

The effort centers around an online video contest to see who has the best Olympic cheer. “America’s Cheer,” as the campaign is called, includes a microsite, Facebook page and Flickr set.

Reality Check: This is Bank of America’s first step into the deep end of social media’s waters. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

Here’s one creative entry to kick things off:

Microsite: America’s Cheer 2008

Flickr: Static images of entries

There’s also a cheesy 4:39 American-Idol style video for the competition. The only real highlight is the contestant who yells “Whoo hoo!” at the 2:15 mark.

Regarding the controversy surrounding China’s hosting of the Olympics, B of A says its “sponsorship is actually focused on the U.S. athletes, rather than the Games themselves. Our support is independent of the venue where they compete.”

This year’s Olympic campaign will cost B of A an estimated $35-40 million, said Joe Goode, corporate spokesman for Bank of America, in USA Today.

Key Question: How will the public react to corporate sponsorships in the Beijing Olympics…especially once the games are underway and these sponsorships will be much more conspicuous?