The Utah Jazz are trying to find newer ways to appeal to non-Jazz fans. They're in Salt Lake City, one of the fastest, youngest cities in the United States and they're taking some less-than-traditional avenues to try and get people invested in their product, and they may have hit the jackpot.
The Jazz are the first professional sports team to partner with the Stanley Cup brand. Stanely, mostly known for its decades of making sturdy, reliable travel mugs for the blue-collar type, has recently developed the Quencher, a large, steel water bottle that has become quite the fan favorite for women these days.
If she's a Taylor Swift fan, she has as many Stanley's as she does Swift's album, that's a promise. And it's a lucrative market. The Stanley brand of drink carriers has risen from $70 million in its annual revenue to $750 million.
Is it a fad? Yes, absolutely, but strike while the iron is hot and that is exactly what the Jazz are doing, by partnering with the drink carrier maker with their new line of Jazz Quenchers. The two sides came to a four-year deal recently, with the financials not being disclosed, but it's likely to be big money.
And fans who are going to the games in person are going to be the first ones to get a crack at these cups. According to NBC San Diego, fans attending this upcoming Sunday's game (Feb. 4) will get a shot at the black and white versions of the cup. Fans who don't attend the game will then be able to go Monday (Feb. 5) to the Delta Center in Salt Lake City to try and get some from the gift shop.
According to the report, the Stanley evolution got a big head start thanks to a blog in and around the Salt Lake City area, that hyped up the Quenchers. So it's fitting that the first sports branding deal comes from one of the states that helped give Stanely their new cliental.