Overall, I think the New England Patriots has grown since its start in 1960. Updating their stadium over the years is just one way they have tried to keep connected with their fans. The Patriots Womens Association, variable ticket pricing, fantasy camps, amongst many other things are how the Patriots have grown over the years to keep connected to their fans to continue to gain their loyalty and support.

By continuing to grow as a team in general this will help them with things like their branding and their fan base.

A variety of different corporations have sponsorship deals with the Patriots.

Verizon benefits from their sponsorship deal with sponsorship entitlements such as the on-site sales outlet seen below. Having an on-site sales outlets is just one of the many entitlements a corporation has and benefits from with the sponsorship deals.

Other entitlements for their sponsors can be seen with the advertising space in the stadium on the score board which shows a variety of different corporations who are sponsors.

The sponsor for the naming rights to the Patriots stadium is Gillette. Naming rights entitles the sponsor, Gillette, to have its name on the stadium. It also entitles them to have other entitlements such as advertising and use of the brand and trademark of the Patriots on their products.

Some of the sponsors even have a link to their websites on the Patriots website. This includes Gillette, Verizon, Bank of America, amongst a few others. Think link to their websites is another entitlement these corporations benefit from with their sponsorship deals.

Here is a list of the corporate sponsors of the New England Patriots.

http://gillettestadium.com/corporate-partners

As a way to strengthen the loyalty and reward current fans and season ticket holders the New England Patriots have Ticket Member Amenities. I think that this not only encourages fans to be season ticket members, but shows that the Patriots appreciate their loyalty and love for the team by rewarding them with these amenities.

These amenities are helpful in connecting those loyal fans to the team in more ways than they ever thought.

One thing that the fans have special access to are certain special events. Some of these live events are held at Gillette Stadium like access to private NFL film screenings and access to a Q&A session with the NFL Commissioner. Other things the fans have access to include draft preview parties, concerts at Gillette Stadium, Patriots ticket exchange, various discounts, amongst many other things.

I Think that these amenities are the Patriots way of thanking their fans for their constant support and loyalty, as well as trying to get new fans and current ones to strengthen their loyalty towards the team.

Below is the link which shows the full list of amenities the season ticket members have access to.

http://www.patriots.com/tickets/season-tickets-amenities

The Patriots 4th Superbowl win was not only a victory for them, but for their beloved fans as well.

Boston based sports radio station WEEI 93.7 FM has recently signed an extension with their media rights, specifically broadcasting rights, for the New England Patriots. These rights include the station’s special Patriots Monday and Patriots Friday. These two give fans an opportunity to listen in on exclusive interviews with Patriots players. The extended agreement includes an interview with Tom Brady, one of the star players on the Patriots, and an interview with the Patriots Head Coach, Bill Belichick.

WEEI has exclusive media broadcasting rights to Patriots Monday and Patriots Friday. I feel that especially since the sports station is located close to the home of the Patriots, Foxboro, it really helps to bring in more listeners, assuming that the majority of people in the area are loyal to their hometown team here being the New England Patriots. This extension also helps give WEEI sports station a better reputation with listeners because they are the only ones with access to broadcast these special live interviews with the New England Patriots twice a week every week. I feel that it can also help form a better connection with fans and the Patriots by listening in on these interviews and learning more about the members of the team and about the team in general.

http://www.patriots.com/news/2015/03/19/patriots-and-sports-radio-weei-announce-three-year-extension-exclusive-broadcast

http://www.weei.com

Here, NFL Media’s Daniel Jeremiah, Charles Davis and Curtis Conway discuss who they feel the New England Patriots should consider in the 2015 NFL Draft. The Patriots hold the 32nd overall draft pick and this video gives a quick look at who the Patriots should really consider when going into the draft pick for the 2015 NFL season. I think that who they decide to keep is just as important as who they decide to trade/ replace/ ect… in terms of their fan base. I feel that the decisions made in regards to their players and overall team could effect the fans, especially for those who are seen as “star struck spectators” who may only root for the Patriots because of one specific player. When dealing with those kind of fans, whose loyalties may solely lie on the basis of that one player, if those players are traded/ replaced with others this could hurt the fan base for the Patriots, or at least with those that are considered “star struck”.

Overall, the right decisions need to be made especially because they want their fans to see that they are making good or at least reasonable player decisions that will benefit the team as a whole. To continue to gain support from fans the draft pick could be crucial depending on what players are picked, traded, or kept for the 2015 season.

Procter & Gamble has the naming rights for the New England Patriots stadium. Gillette, which had naming rights to the stadium, was bought by Procter & Gamble back in 2005 for $57 billion. (http://247wallst.com/media/2013/11/04/procter-gamble-wins-with-naming-rights-to-new-england-patriots-stadium/)

The Patriots played all of their home games originally at Foxboro Stadium, which was one of the smallest stadiums in the NFL and only had 60,000 seats (http://www.foxboroticketking.com/gillette-stadium-history.html). When the new stadium was built in Foxboro, Massachusetts its original name was CMGI Stadium. It was then named Gillette, even though Procter & Gamble bought the Gillette brand the stadium remains as Gillette Stadium because Procter & Gamble did not change the Gillette brand name.

The Gillette naming rights cost $8 million annually over a 15 year contract, which expires in 2031 with a 15-year extension signed in 2010 (http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/09/19/In-Depth/Naming-rights-deals.aspx).

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2011/09/19/In-Depth/Naming-rights-deals.aspx

Stadium

City

Sponsor

Price

# of years

Annual value

Expires

Gillette Stadium

Foxboro, Mass.

Gillette

$240 million

15

$8.0 million

2031

http://www.patriots.com/video/2012/08/01/patriots-fantasy-camp

If you’re a New England Patriots fan then this fantasy camp may be for you!

The Patriots have found more ways to better connect to their fans through the Patriots Fantasy Camp. Not only can you meet some of your favorite players, but you get to interact and play with them on the field at Gillette Stadium. This is a golden opportunity for all you sports fanatics or star struck spectators to really connect with the players and team with this amazing experience.

I feel that for those that participate in the fantasy camp it would increase fan avidity by making them more passionate about the team. I think this because they will be able to spend time and bond with the players and by participating in things on the field and it would really make them feel as though they are not just a fan, but part of the team.

Since fans are given this opportunity I think it would help those fans create a strong emotional connection with the team by meeting players, interacting with them, and playing on their field. Some fans dream about being on the same field as their favorite team and this fantasy camp gives those fans the chance to live out their dreams and feel like they as part of the team. By feeling like they are part of the team I think it would also make them feel as though they play a meaningful role in the Patriots in that their support and presence as fans plays an important part in the success of the team.

Below are some images from the 2014 Patriots Fantasy Camp.

http://www.patriots.com/galleries/2014/06/12/2014-patriots-fantasy-camp#11436

Branding of individual players is just as important as the branding of the team and can help build brand equity to the team as well.

Tom Brady, one of the players for the New England Patriots, has spent much of the last year trying to brand himself. Last NFL season Brady’s wife showed her Patriots pride on Instagram while Brady himself has been posting many personal photos to social media sites. This is in an effort to extend Brady’s career beyond the field from a star quarterback to a strong person a brand (http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/inside-effort-brand-tom-brady-162778).

Since Brady is number 12 for the Patriots the brand he has been working on creating is called TB12. The Patriots players have also decided to help him build this brand through posting various funny and personal pictures of Brady on social media. By branding himself this way it helps to make him more relatable to fans and easier for fans to connect with him on an emotional level beyond the field.

“When it comes to celebrities, specifically athletes, Adam Padilla, who created Brady’s TB12 logo in 2008, said branding is most effective when the persona put forward meshes with how the person is perceived. He suggests playing on the athlete’s strengths,” (http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/inside-effort-brand-tom-brady-162778).

By branding himself, Brady has not only helped his personal image with fans, but has helped the teams image as well by adding value to the team as a whole. I feel that by making himself more relatable with fans it translates to the team as a whole being more relatable, especially since Brady is one of the star players for the New England Patriots.

A brand mark also known as a logo is the visual symbol that represents a team, company or individual. Changing a team’s name or logo can be a complicated and costly process and the Patriots have change their logo more there once since their start in 1960.

The logo most fans associate with the Patriots team is Pat Patriot, which was used until 1992. Pat Patriot was a cartoon version of a New England Minuteman from about 1776 and is seen as if he is going to hike the ball. Pat was designed by Phil Bissell in 1960. Phil was a cartoonist for the Boston Globe who drew Pat after the team name had been chosen as the Boston Patriots. Pat wasn’t made the official logo until 1961 and he began appearing on all Patriots merchandise and was the became the beloved mascot for the Patriots as well. But, as time went on the Patriots themselves began to dislike Pat despite the fact that he was sentimental part of the team for players, management, and fans. Pat was also disliked by the team because it was a difficult image to reproduce on a variety of mediums. (http://www.fastcodesign.com/3041229/super-logo-bowl-the-design-history-of-the-patriots-and-seahawks)

Ultimately, the logo had to be changed for advertising and merchandising reasons. This led to the current logo of the profile shot of a Minuteman patriot with a flag streaming from the back of his head, known by many fans as ‘Flying Elvis’.

I think that the history of the logo is important. It shows that the brand mark, no matter how loved by fans, sometimes still must be changed. Whether the change be for how the team wants to be represented or for merchandising reasons sometimes the team must take the complicated process of changing their logo for the better of the brand. By the Patriots changing their logo to the profile shot, the current logo, it has made it easier to recreate for advertising such as television ads and easier to put on different and more merchandise. By being able to do this I feel that it opened the Patriots to more options regarding ways to connect to fans and make more money on merchandising.