Mondelēz Takes a Multi Level Approach to Football Marketing With Chiefs and Five College Partnerships
Mondelēz International is expanding its football marketing strategy across professional and college sports, bringing its portfolio of snack brands into six major football partnerships at the same time.
The brand has become an official snacking partner of the Kansas City Chiefs while also establishing partnerships with five college programs: the University of Arkansas, University of Florida, University of Michigan, University of Southern California and University of Texas at Austin. Learfield is facilitating the five collegiate partnerships.
The simultaneous approach gives Mondelēz a way to reach football fans at multiple levels while connecting its brands to both national and regional audiences. According to the brand, it marks the first time a brand has activated partnerships with an NFL team and five college football programs at the same time.
For Mondelēz, the strategy is built around the idea that football fandom is highly local. While the Chiefs partnership provides a national platform, the college relationships give the brand access to distinct fan bases, markets and traditions.
“These partnerships need to be regional. We want to make sure that nuanced approach appeals to the fans in each market, because every college has its own culture, traditions and way of experiencing football,” said Nick Rogers, director of portfolio marketing and sponsorships at Mondelēz International. “That gives us an opportunity to show up in a way that feels relevant to those communities while still building the larger Mondelēz portfolio.”
That regional approach also gives the brand more flexibility in how it activates its brands. OREO, RITZ, CHIPS AHOY! and CLIF BAR can each be incorporated into different football environments, allowing Mondelēz to match individual products with specific audiences and consumption occasions.
Tailgating is one of the biggest opportunities. Football provides a natural environment for snack brands because fans are already gathering with friends and family before games, at watch parties and around other game day traditions. By establishing relationships with teams rather than relying on one off advertising, Mondelēz can integrate its products into those experiences.
“We want to be very visible in those key moments when people are getting together and having fun,” Rogers said. “Whether that is tailgating before a game, watching with friends at home or picking up snacks at the store, sports give us a really natural opportunity to connect our brands with those occasions and become part of the experience.”
The five college partnerships also extend beyond football. Mondelēz will activate across additional sports throughout the academic year, including basketball, soccer, baseball and lacrosse. That gives the brand more opportunities to maintain relationships with students, alumni and fans after the college football season ends and the NFL Draft period begins after the Super Bowl.
Student athletes are also part of the strategy. Five athletes are part of the initial collegiate program, creating opportunities for Mondelēz to connect team partnerships with creator style content and individual social audiences. The financial agreement between the parties was not disclosed.
Retail is another important piece of the plan. The brand can connect its sports partnerships with in store promotions and displays, giving consumers a path from seeing a brand associated with their favorite team to encountering that same product while shopping for game day snacks.
“We see this as an opportunity to build affinity with these fans over time,” Rogers said. “We can use the Chiefs to give us that national NFL presence, while these college partnerships allow us to be much more specific in individual markets. When you put those pieces together with social content, student athletes and retail activations, it gives us a much broader way to engage consumers throughout the football season.”
That combination reflects a larger shift in sports marketing, as brands look for partnerships that can generate content and consumer engagement across multiple channels rather than relying primarily on traditional signage or broadcast exposure.
Mondelēz will leverage the Chiefs to reach NFL audiences at scale while using its college partnerships to create more targeted campaigns in markets where individual teams have deep cultural connections. Social content can extend those activations beyond stadiums, while student athletes provide additional voices and audiences.
For a brand with a broad portfolio of snack brands, the model also creates room to test different messages and products across different fan communities. A campaign built around a national NFL property can work alongside more localized college activations without requiring every market to receive the exact same execution.
As football continues to become a year round marketing opportunity, Mondelēz is positioning its portfolio across the sport at multiple levels. The brand now has a presence that can move from NFL Sundays to college Saturdays, from stadiums to retail shelves and from traditional sponsorships to social content, giving Mondelēz more opportunities to become part of how fans experience the game.
