We have seen many athlete and product sponsorship deals but many pale in comparison to what is occurring this super bowl weekend. But, Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks has been able to navigate his NFL career by uttering a few words at a time and being an advocate for letting his actions do all of his talking for him. His choice of action has left many NFL media critics with a bad taste in their mouths. After numerous fines for not talking to the media, Lynch has taken a more genuine approach to dealing with his media critics.
Lynch has chose to answer the questions of media with short candid phrases in his press conferences. The only problem is that he repeating the same phrase throughout the entire interview.
We’re not here to provide any type of formula for how to conduct a proper press conference but what we are here to do is showcase the perfect marketing relationship that Skittles and Marshawn Lynch have been able to construct.This organic relationship has blossmed into a full fledged marketing partnership that has become the talk of the Super Bowl weekend, literally .The beautiful part about this particular relationship is that its a win-win for both parties.
Marshawn has admitted that Skiittles has played an integral part in his development of a football player. Marshawn’s Mom Delisa Lynch explains the story behind Marshawn loves for skittles “When Marshawn was 12 or 13, we’d go to his games and I’d always have little candies in my purse,” Lynch’s mom explained. “Before the game, I would say, ‘Here Marshawn, come and get your power pellets.’(1) Two things can be pulled just from these excerpts.
1) Marshawn love of skittles can be traced back to his younger years. This speaks to brand loyalty and brand recognition.
2) The term “power pellets” that Delisa Lynch used to describe how the candy is viewed as having some type of mystical powers personifies the allure of the brand.
Delisa continues to say “I would give him a handful of Skittles and say, ‘Eat ’em up, baby. They’re going to make you run fast and they’re going to make you play good.”
You can’t ask for better product promotion than that. So for here on out Skittles has added a nutritional/superpower component to their brand that a 100 million dollar marketing campaign could not have done. You would have an easier time finding the Pot of Gold at the end of a rainbow than to find a better marketing partnership.
(1) Content exerpts from Seahawks.com
