Arena elevates Fiserv’s brand
Company has no regrets paying for naming rights
When the Milwaukee Bucks announced last summer that Brookfield financial technology firm Fiserv Inc. was buying naming rights to their new $524 million arena, some people scratched their heads.
They wondered what benefits a business-to-business financial technology provider — Fiserv sells technology that runs banks and credit unions — would receive from having its name on a new sports and entertainment facility for the next 25 years. Most corporate naming rights sponsors have direct-to-consumer products.
At the time of the announcement, Jeffery Yabuki, the chief executive of Fiserv and a longtime NBA fan, said the deal would give Fiserv exposure nationally and internationally, do it from the most technologically state-of-the-art arena in the country, and even help with recruiting.
This week, Yabuki, speaking at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, had no regrets about the deal.
“We took an important step in elevating Fiserv’s brand by acquiring naming rights for Fiserv Forum,” Yabuki said. “It appears to have been a strong move at the right time, given how the Bucks have played in the last year.”
The Bucks had the best regular season record in the NBA and are competing for the league’s Eastern Conference championship.
Yabuki also noted that the arena also will be hosting the 2020 Democratic National Convention — something that wasn’t known at the time the naming rights contract was signed.
“Overall we’re quite pleased with the benefits that we have achieved so far and excited about the opportunities to elevate our brand to be a little more of a household name,” Yabuki said.
Milwaukee marketing professional Kris Naidl said there’s no doubt putting Fiserv’s name on the arena has been a plus for the company.
“I was actually just thinking about it myself the other night watching the game and thinking how quickly the name has been adopted and is being used, and that’s such a win for Fiserv,” said Naidl, executive vice president and managing director for public relations at Laughlin Constable.
“Coming in at the right time in kind of a fairy tale season for the Bucks has just given it such quick national and international exposure.”
She noted that more companies of all types are paying for naming rights.
“The trend, if you look over the last few years, it’s broadening greatly,” Naidl said. “When you’re seeing even healthcare-type organizations putting their name on sports facilities or other public gathering places, it’s all about name recognition. I think that’s where Fiserv has really scored here. People are using the name associated with the Forum, they’re saying it right, spelling it right, and it’s going to do a lot to raise awareness for them.”
Before the naming rights deal was announced last year, Wall Street analysts who cover Fiserv and the financial tech industry for Milwaukee’s Robert W. Baird & Co. put together a report calcu
lating the financial and marketing impact. Their conclusion was that naming rights for the arena shouldn’t be much of a financial burden on the company, and the exposure would have value.
The cost of naming rights hasn’t been disclosed, but the Baird report made some educated assumptions.
“With an exciting young Bucks team, new stadium and entertainment complex in the heart of downtown Milwaukee, we think the branding opportunity would be NPV (net present value) positive for Fiserv,” the Baird report by David Koning and Robert Bamberger stated.
The analysis looked at the possible advertising benefit of the deal. The Baird report figured sports TV network ESPN charges about $31,500 per 30-second advertisement, or about $1,050 per second.
“If we assume at least one 10-second slow motion Giannis dunk is shown per night during the NBA season (five months long) on SportsCenter Top 10 highlights with a FISV logo in the background, that would equate to about $2 million of advertising exposure for FISV per year,” the Baird report stated. FISV is Fiserv’s stock ticker symbol.
The upshot from the Baird team: “Assuming the Bucks make a run in the playoffs next year with multiple primetime home games showcasing their talent and new stadium, along with multiple concerts and events, we think exposure would make naming rights at least NPV positive.”
Anyone who attends a Bucks game has seen that lighted displays in the arena may feature more orange — Fiserv’s company color — than a Florida citrus grove.
Bucks President Peter Feigin said Thursday the working relationship between the Bucks and Fiserv has been “seamless,” and the success of the Bucks and the arena have accelerated the exposure for Fiserv.
“Awareness for Fiserv has gone way up in a short period of time,” he said.
The exposure is paying off, Yabuki said.
“The recognition that we’re starting to get is allowing us to attract talent, and frankly, to have fewer people wonder what it is we do,” Yabuki said. “We think we’ll do more over time. But it’s really been fantastic.”