Super Bowl Means Super Bucks
Thursday February 3, 2011 | Filed under:
No matter who wins the Super Bowl, it’s clear one industry will emerge a winner no matter who takes home the fancy rings: the ad specialty industry.
We spoke to a number of companies that are working overtime to produce everything from official Super Bowl jackets and fan-favorite foam fingers to title towels and T-shirts. We were so impressed with the massive output, we put out a press release detailing who’s doing what. It’s all part of ASI’s ongoing effort to publicize our industry to end-buyers.
Click here to check out recent press coverage and to read some of our many press releases.
The bottom line when it comes to major sporting events is that a big game means big bucks for promotional products companies.
Jim Silver of Pittsburgh, PA-based Precision Screen Printing (asi/603946) says his company will produce 25,000 to 35,000 T-shirts by devoting two presses and 14 people over a 36-hour period. Another company in Steelers territory, All Pro Embroidery, produced about 40,000 T-shirts leading up to the game and expects to print 20,000 more if their team wins.
More than 2,000 jackets are expected to be ordered online immediately following the big game.
“Craftsman-style Super Bowl jackets, our most popular item, are decorated on-demand and shipped within 48 hours directly to the fan,” said Matt Gray, chief operating officer of Dunbrooke Apparel Corp. (asi/50930), a leading supplier of NFL jackets under its licensing agreement with Reebok and the National Football League. “We bring in 12-hour nightshift crews to man the 250 embroidery-machine heads and begin the process the minute the final game whistle blows.”
Dallas, TX-based Purple Giraffe (asi/80086) is operating 16 hours a day to produce packaged T-shirts in the shapes of footballs, postcards and DVD cases, as well as to put Super Bowl T-shirts into Pepsi bottles. “We’ll make enough money to pay owner and general manager Jerry Jones for signage rights to the new Cowboys Stadium,” joked manager Robbie Weinberg. “Just kidding, Jerry.”
In a nod to the record-breaking cold snap in Dallas, Purple Giraffe is also selling quite a few iBEANi’s (beanie caps with built-in iPod speakers). They even scored Martellus Bennett, tight end for the Dallas Cowboys, pictured above, to pitch them.
In addition, sports-related products provided by ASI member companies include watches from Fossil (asi/55145), a cooler shaped like a helmet from America Zebra Line (asi/35745), a helmet snack server (chips stay in the top and dip goes in the facemask) from LarLu Display-Tec (asi/66390), and oversized, logoed cowboy hats from Spirit Industries (asi/88740).
“It’s great for our industry,” said Joe Durand, senior VP of LarLu (asi/66390), an officially licensed provider of the Green Bay Packers’ Titletown Towel and the Pittsburgh Steelers Terrible Towel for Super Bowl XLV.
McArthur Towel & Sports, a LarLu company, has produced the renowned yellow towels fans have waved at Pittsburgh Steelers games for the last 14 years. Recently, the company was also licensed to bring back a new version of the Green Bay Packers Title Towel. “The towel is a tremendous sponsor product with excellent visibility at sporting events,” Durand told us.
McArthur will work around the clock to produce the Super Bowl XLV Trophy Towels that will be used during the on-field celebration.
Let me know if your company jumped into the game by posting a comment or emailing me here. I’m also on Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.