College Football Bowl Game Sponsorships

There are now 43 bowl games with 86 total teams participating in the final events of the college football season. While only 2 of these bowl games have any effect on the championship, these are important games to teams and fan bases across the nation. 

Unsurprisingly, brands of all shapes and sizes want to get in on the glory of competing for a bowl game. While some long-standing brands keep it simple, many brands see these games as opportunities to stand out from the crowd and get people talking about their products. In honor of the final week of college football, we’ve highlighted some of the most viral, creative, and classic bowl game sponsorships from bowl season! 

Pop-Tarts Bowl

There is only one correct answer when asked who won bowl season this year: Pop-Tarts. The Kansas State Wildcats defeated the NC State Wolfpack in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, but the star of the show was the world’s first ever edible mascot. 

First of all, the game started with the Pop-Tart mascot emerging out of a massive toaster at mid-field accompanied by fireworks. No explanation needed for why this went viral on social media. After doing funny bits throughout the game, the mascot had his dream come true after the final whistle as he was lowered back into the toaster and out popped a life-size edible mascot that the winning team devoured to celebrate their win!

This was a very successful marketing campaign that created massive free media exposure on social, digital, and broadcast due to the campaign’s viral nature. Everyone wanted a piece of their favorite childhood snack that had come to life for bowl season. Even teams like the San Francisco 49ers got in on the Pop-Tarts hype as they interviewed players in the locker room asking players about their favorite Pop-Tart flavors. 

Cheez-It Citrus Bowl

The Cheez-It mascot wanted to make it very clear that he was NOT an edible mascot after he saw what happened to the Pop-Tart mascot. In similar epic fashion, the Cheez-It mascot emerged from a massive Cheez-It box to kick off the Citrus Bowl between the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Tennessee Volunteers. 

All-State Sugar Bowl

The Allstate Sugar Bowl is a classic sponsorship that has left the issuance brand synonymous with college football and the historic Sugar Bowl. The brand has been sponsoring the Sugar Bowl since 2007, creating a lasting impression on college football fans. Not only is this one of two CFP semi-final games, this year’s game between Texas and Washington was one of the most exciting games of the bowl season! Washington took the win in dramatic fashion to advance to the championship game next week.

When it comes to tracking and valuing campaigns like this, Blinkfire makes things simple. Using our Campaigns tool, users can create a customized campaign by uploading campaign logo-lockups, including campaign-specific hashtags, and setting campaign rules. 

Use Case: The Allstate Sugar Bowl wanted to track All-State’s exposure from when they started marketing around the bowl game to a day after the bowl game. The Sugar Bowl’s social media team could launch a campaign in Blinkfire to track their Allstate Sugar Bowl logo and hashtag.

Duke’s Mayo Bowl

The winning coach of Duke’s Mayo Bowl might not like his reward, but you can’t deny that it is great content. The coach of the West Virginia Mountaineers got a cooler of mayo dumped on him after defeating North Carolina. Fans were also all over social media embarrassing the Duke’s Mayo Bowl with videos of them enjoying their favorite condiment.

Famous Idaho Potato Bowl

The Georgia State Panthers defeated the Utah State Aggies in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. This is a memorable bowl game played in Idaho on Boise State’s electric blue field. Not only can you win a bowl game, but this year the winning coach got showered in Famous Idaho Potato fries instead of gatorade!

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