Comments on: Midweek Links http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2009/08/26/midweek-links/ News and opinions on the business side of sports Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:41:05 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Cole Price http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/2009/08/26/midweek-links/comment-page-1/#comment-9083 Cole Price Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:14:14 +0000 http://www.thebusinessofsports.com/?p=2053#comment-9083 Being on a college campus and having been a student over the last 4 years, it definitely wasn't by accident that A-B was trying to market to this audience. If you are going to have a drink why not do it with a can dressed in your favorite team's colors. I get it, and they might not have been trying to increase underage drinking, but that would be a indirect result. The biggest problem with the A-B cans is from a sponsorship and licensing standpoint. LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and USC won the smack apparel case saying that colors +1 element caused confusion in the marketplace as to whether the company actually had a license with the school. These cans in most markets, like Tennessee and Georgia, had distinctive characteristics that would have afforded the schools evidence that confusion was occuring. At LSU, The LSU Sports Radio Network done by CBS Sports Properties has A-B as their main sponsor, so advertisements for the "LSU sports radio network" were placed right next to the colorful beer cans. Confusion was definitely present in this situation. The signage ended up being moved away from the beer cans and luckily the SEC came out saying that no member institution would be a partner in the A-B program. Being on a college campus and having been a student over the last 4 years, it definitely wasn’t by accident that A-B was trying to market to this audience. If you are going to have a drink why not do it with a can dressed in your favorite team’s colors. I get it, and they might not have been trying to increase underage drinking, but that would be a indirect result.

The biggest problem with the A-B cans is from a sponsorship and licensing standpoint. LSU, Ohio State, Oklahoma, and USC won the smack apparel case saying that colors +1 element caused confusion in the marketplace as to whether the company actually had a license with the school. These cans in most markets, like Tennessee and Georgia, had distinctive characteristics that would have afforded the schools evidence that confusion was occuring. At LSU, The LSU Sports Radio Network done by CBS Sports Properties has A-B as their main sponsor, so advertisements for the “LSU sports radio network” were placed right next to the colorful beer cans. Confusion was definitely present in this situation. The signage ended up being moved away from the beer cans and luckily the SEC came out saying that no member institution would be a partner in the A-B program.

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