EMC makes Sox deal: Logo on Japan uniforms

Jan 23, 2008
Red Sox players will sport EMC logos on their sleeves during the team’s season opening series in Japan, the first time the storied franchise has turned its uniforms into potential ad space.
EMC Corp. is betting the deal will help accelerate its drive into the lucrative Japanese tech market. The Pacific region representing the fastest growth area for the Hopkinton-based data storage giant, said David Farmer, director of corporate communications.
The deal, which is with MLB Japan, is likely to cost EMC in the six figures, one leading sports business expert said.
“The fact that it is on the uniform makes it a unique sponsorship,” said Marc Ganis, head of Chicago-based SportsCorp.
Sox players and coaches, including Terry Francona, will wear specially designed sleeve patches featuring both the EMC and Japan 2008 logos.
The games will be broadcast both in the Japanese market and back home through the New England Sports Network (NESN).
EMC will also get hundreds of tickets to the two March games against the Oakland As, which the company will use to entertain customers and business partners.
The deal, which runs for a year, gives EMC the rights to use the Sox logo and those of other major league teams in its marketing efforts in Japan, said Sam Kennedy, a top Sox marketing executive.
While such uniform logos are routine in Japanese baseball, there are no plans to start selling ad space on Sox uniforms in the United States, where the practice is banned by MLB, Kennedy and other officials noted. Still, the deal is a landmark one for the Sox, Kennedy said.
“It’s a groundbreaking deal. No corporations are allowed to have their logos on uniforms in the United States,” Kennedy said. “It is very, very valuable from a corporate perspective to be branded on the players, on the content.”
But the benefits may not be long lasting, said Ganis. “You get a lot of pop for the short time period, but it is short lived,” he said.