It's National Tailgate Week

Marketers are all over football.  Signage at the stadium. Sponsoring pregames, quarters, halftime, or the field goal net.  Embedding  their logos in the football analysts table.  Sponsoring play of the game, week, or season.  So much to sponsor, so few marketing dollars (or not).

I do realize sponsorships can work, but I prefer to find a deeper link between the brand and passion point.  Linking the brand to a tribal ritual or popular trend within the passion point. Something that is unique and ownable.  To this end, I think Kingsford is onto something.

Kingsford through a sponsorship on ESPN has created National Tailgate Week (September 20 through 26).  Ironically, the idea of Tailgate Week is a just footnote on the ESPN Tailgate at Home promotional site with Mike and Mike in the Morning.  The primary objective of the site is a sweepstakes to win a trip for four to the Super Bowl.  Also on the site people will find recipes, grilling tips, coupons, and a live radio feed. 

Tailgating is big and no brand really owns it.  Many marketers reference tailgating in their ads in an attempt to be relevant to football (or NASCAR).  Toyota includes the History of Tailgating in their commercials.  Marketers like Coleman offer products to equip the tailgator.  Food brands like Bob Evans and Tobasco have many recipe ideas –of course all the recipes contain their product. 

For Kingsford to own tailgating they need to do several things.  First is to broaden their scope beyond an ESPN promotion and include it in all marketing efforts: web, television, magazine, and events.  Own Tailgating Week in the media. 

Another thought is to  broaden the time frame from a week to the month of September.  The timing works well with the beginning of college and pro football seasons and coincides with NASCAR’s Race for the Cup.

Also, engage the fan passion for tailgating.  Being an avid tailgator, I am impressed with the extravagance of some tailgating.  There is a fame play here. Fame can be recognized by having people submit their tailgate ideas of photos for a contest, or Kingsford has a mobile event traveling the the country capturing the revelry and ingenuity.

Finally tailgating is an obvious brand fit for Kingsford.  Since grilling is the de facto activity for most tailgators, Kingsford supplies an essential product.  Also, with Kingsford Competition Briquets the company is expanding their product line for niche grillers.  So why not Tailgating Briquets?

Could Kingsford become to tailgating to what Butterball is to Thanksgiving?  I don’t know, but it may be worth a try.  While Thanksgiving comes but once a year, tailgating occurs minimally for thirteen weeks out of the year.