[dragonfly]

I was watching this today: Konica Minolta Gator Bowl: Florida State vs. West Virginia and had to wonder, does K/M have some new product that they're promoting?

[Novocain]

As far as I know Konica Minolta is exclusively an office equipment (copier, fax machine etc) manufacturer now. My office just recently acquired one of those all-in-one print center behemoths from them.

[aerodave]

If you're not a close watcher of college football, the intricacies of post-season games and their commercial tie-ins may have eluded you.

The title sponsorships for bowl games are typically long-term things, tied to multi-year sponsorship contracts. The Gator Bowl itself has been played every year since 1946, and back then, games didn't have corporate sponsors in the titles. Starting in the 1980s, a trend developed that caused nearly all games to incorporate a title sponsor. As for the Gator Bowl's sponsorship history, Wikipedia has this to say:

Mazda was the first title sponsor, beginning in 1986 and lasting for five years. Outback Steakhouse sponsored the Gator Bowl for three years beginning in 1992, prior to obtaining their own Outback Bowl held in Tampa, Florida. From 1996–2006, the title sponsor was Toyota, and the bowl's official name was the Toyota Gator Bowl. Konica Minolta became the title sponsor prior to the 2007 game.

Some bowl games are recent in origin, and have never had a name outside a title sponsor, like the aforementioned Outback Bowl. Some bowls have been "transformed" into corporate-only names; the Chick-fil-A Bowl was formerly the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, and before that (for many decades) was simply the Peach Bowl. The Rose Bowl is too proud to sully their name with a corporate sponsorship (but they're happy to take the money), so they are officially "The Rose Bowl Game (presented by Citi)".

But the point is that bowl sponsorships don't typically exist because of a special promotion or a new product. They are multi-year, multi-million-dollar advertising deals that help a company form brand identity. Very few people, for example, know of the existence of Insight Enterprises outside their decade-long sponsorship of the Insight Bowl. (And even then, I don't know what they do). Pentax could always decide to get involved in the college bowl system as a title sponsor of a game....but given their apparent lack of any bit of marketing savvy, I wouldn't count on it.

[RuiC]

Q: When is Pentax going to sponsor a footbal bowl challenge?

A: When they have something really Big to sell.

[lurchlarson]

Q: When is Pentax going to sponsor a footbal bowl challenge?

A: When they have something really Big to sell.

i.e. When they have a camera that has fast enough AF that sports photographers will take it seriously.

i.e. When they have a camera that has fast enough AF that sports photographers will take it seriously.

Or when they start playing American Football in zero gravity.

I am sure that all color combinations of NFL uniforms are covered by K-x's color variations.

I am sure that all color combinations of NFL uniforms are covered by K-x's color variations.

Considering most American football fans I've come across aren't too high up the evolutionary ladder (I admit that may be a consequence of living in Oakland) I don't think that would have any marketing benefit for Pentax. Especially when all those colours are only sold in Japan

[reeftool]

Perhaps the question should be "When is Pentax going to sponser anything?" I did see a magazine ad recently however.

Considering most American football fans I've come across aren't too high up the evolutionary ladder (I admit that may be a consequence of living in Oakland) I don't think that would have any marketing benefit for Pentax. Especially when all those colours are only sold in Japan

But you see, this may be the opportunity that Pentax has been looking for. A huge group of intellectually challenged males who would buy anything as long as the color combo represent their team. This may be easier than selling microwaves to Eskimo people. They may even buy it even if Pentax put no sensor whatsoever in K-x.

[Blue]

Considering most American football fans I've come across aren't too high up the evolutionary ladder (I admit that may be a consequence of living in Oakland) I don't think that would have any marketing benefit for Pentax. Especially when all those colours are only sold in Japan

Oakland is pro football and that is a different environment all together!

[Blue]

As far as I know Konica Minolta is exclusively an office equipment (copier, fax machine etc) manufacturer now. My office just recently acquired one of those all-in-one print center behemoths from them.

That's correct. Sony bought the old Minolta camera factory and hired many of the engineers etc. That's where the Alpha line sprang up from.

[janneman]

That's correct. Sony bought the old Minolta camera factory and hired many of the engineers etc. That's where the Alpha line sprang up from.

Apparntly they did not have enough money to hire the designers....

But I fail to see why anybody should sponsor Football, at least American Football
Nobody in the world watches that except the USA. I am somwhat broadminded so I am aware that the NFL started a competition here in Europe but that never took off. I am not even aware if it exists or not, I never see it on tele, never read about it in newspapers...

And why it does not really take off here?? The same reason why Pentax should not sponsor it... Or any other brand...
I mean, out of curiosity I have watched a few games and what struck me, the moment the ball or some players actually move, the game is usually stopped , players lurch opposite of each other,one throws a ball back to one of his playmates, that one throws the ball and maybe someone catches it, maybe not and then the game is halted, players lurch opposite etc. etc.

No smart company would like to use a game with so many stoppages to advertise their products...

[aerodave]

Maybe you don't "get" American football. I don't "get" soccer either. 90 minutes of running around a field nonstop to end in a scoreless tie? Screw that.

But I'm at least open-minded to realize that while I may not "get" it, a lot of other people do. And I'm not going to look down on anyone who does, nor would I question the wisdom of a company who chooses to use it as a marketing vehicle.

You're correct that American football (especially college football!) is not popular anywhere outside the US. I'm not sure why that matters. It's a pretty big market here, in case you haven't noticed. I think plenty of businesses do pretty well doing nothing but catering to the US market. I'm not being jingoistic or Amero-centric. I'm just stating an undeniable fact that multi-national companies often focus considerable effort in capturing the US market. Why? It's the largest economy in the world, plain and simple. Hell, California is just one state of 50, and has an economy larger than all but six foreign countries.

And as for the game itself...smart companies aren't worried about whether the "quality" of a sport matches up with some arbitrary ideal. They care whether people are watching it. And football in this country is an enormous money-making franchise. If tens or even hundreds of millions of viewers watched two guys in an empty room play Tic-Tac-Toe, advertisers would still be falling all over themselves for naming rights and commercial time.

Besides, all those stoppages provide opportunities for showing commercials. I mean, they even have official "TV time outs" because there aren't enough play stoppages without them. And we, the veiwers, need those breaks to go get another beer out of the fridge.

[Blue]

We have regular season college games with 107,000 people in attendance. I know of small high schools with a student body of 255 that have 3-5000 people attending games on Friday nights. Its a U.S. thing. In fact, it the South, its a religion!

Apparntly they did not have enough money to hire the designers....

But I fail to see why anybody should sponsor Football, at least American Football
Nobody in the world watches that except the USA. I am somwhat broadminded so I am aware that the NFL started a competition here in Europe but that never took off. I am not even aware if it exists or not, I never see it on tele, never read about it in newspapers...

And why it does not really take off here?? The same reason why Pentax should not sponsor it... Or any other brand...
I mean, out of curiosity I have watched a few games and what struck me, the moment the ball or some players actually move, the game is usually stopped , players lurch opposite of each other,one throws a ball back to one of his playmates, that one throws the ball and maybe someone catches it, maybe not and then the game is halted, players lurch opposite etc. etc.

No smart company would like to use a game with so many stoppages to advertise their products...