(Brand Republic) - The NFL, the US American football governing body which is famed for its in-house aggressive ad campaigns, has appointed Young & Rubicam as its first outside advertising agency.
Y&R New York will create a long-term strategy for consumer marketing and promotion of the NFL after winning the account without a review. This work was previously handled in-house.
John Collins, senior vice-president for marketing and entertainment programming, said that the NFL was pleased with a recent campaign Y&R’s New York office created to promote the league’s charitable work for the United Way.
Collins added that the league will continue working with its in-house resources, which include NFL Films, as well as assigning projects to outsiders.
In the past, its commercials have run on the television networks owned by the media companies that have the rights to cover NFL games. Last year, these included the ABC, ESPN, CBS and Fox networks. NFL’s total annual commercial time was valued at $120m-$150m (£81.8m-£102.3m).
Y&R, part of the WPP Group, will develop campaigns for events including Kickoff Weekend and the Super Bowl, as well as handling research, account management and media planning and buying when needed.