While SUM’s responsibilities also include Concacaf Nations League Finals, Leagues Cup and exhibitions, including those featuring the Messi-led Argentinian National Team just before Copa América, its rebrand stresses the evolving makeup of soccer fans in MLS territories and their importance to new sponsors such as Strauss, WSS and Western Union.
It also stresses the broader, more cosmopolitan marketing importance of MLS, which used the track “Sacúdete” by Gotopo and Don Elektron to punctuate the league’s “Our Soccer Is Calling” ad running during Copa América.
“When you have all these great new builds and activity and all this interest, we’re in a position where the corporate community knows to come to us,” Carter Ladd, SUM’s chief revenue officer, told ADWEEK. “We’ve got a long story, and a long history of Soccer United Marketing helped put us in position whereby we can add the success that we’re having and welcome so many new brands to the sponsorship family here.”
Lowe’s
The Messi march begins in the home & garden section.
“Fútbol, much like home improvement, is all about teamwork and the assistance between people,” Messi said in a statement from Lowe’s.
