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Part
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World Wrestling Entertainment - Biggest Sponsors/Partners
Five of the biggest partners/sponsors of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) are Snickers, Progressive, Paramount Pictures, Post Consumer Brands, and Pizza Hut. Snickers, Progressive, Paramount Pictures, and Pizza Hut will be involved in SmackDown’s debut on the Fox network. Post Consumer Brands’ cereal boxes have featured WWE Superstars such as John Cena, Becky Lynch, and Big Show.
SNICKERS (MARS)
- Snickers has served as the “exclusive presenting partner of WrestleMania” since 2016.
- The brand’s You’re Not You When You’re Hungry’ campaign that featured WWE Superstars was aired on WWE’s TV programs such as Raw and SmackDown during the lead up to the 2019 edition of WrestleMania.
- The TV spot was also aired on the WWE Network during the WrestleMania event.
- Snickers has released limited-edition Hunger Bars that included the “catchphrases of five Superstars on the packaging,” which were available from March to April 2019 only.
- It is an ongoing sponsor of WWE and will be one of the brands involved in SmackDown’s debut on the Fox network.
- The length of the partnership/sponsorship has not been announced.
- The estimated annual revenue for Mars, the parent company of Snickers, is $35 billion.
PROGRESSIVE
- In September 2019, it was announced that Progressive has signed on as the presenting sponsor of Friday Night SmackDown, which will be making its debut on October 4, 2019.
- According to Fox Sports executive VP, sports sales Seth Winter, “integrations will play a significant role” in this partnership.
- Winter has also mentioned that the in-show features related to “this immersive sponsorship are likely to evolve over time.”
- The length of the partnership/sponsorship has not been announced.
- Progressive’s revenue for 2018 was $32 billion.
PARAMOUNT PICTURES (VIACOM)
- Paramount Pictures has also been named as one of the sponsors for Friday Night SmackDown.
- The commercial breaks during the broadcast of the program will feature TV spots for the company’s new movies such as Gemini Man (to be released on October 11, 2019) and Playing with Fire (November 8, 2019), which stars WWE superstar John Cena.
- WWE’s partnership with Paramount is ongoing as its animation division will be working with WWE Studios to produce Rumble, “which is set in a world where monster wrestling is a global sport and monsters are superstar athletes.”
- The length of the partnership/sponsorship has not been announced.
- The 2018 revenue for Viacom, the parent company of Paramount Pictures, was $12.943 billion.
POST CONSUMER BRANDS (POST HOLDINGS)
- WWE’s partnership with Post Consumer Brands began in 2012 when John Cena was featured on the top of the brand’s Fruity Pebbles boxes.
- In 2013, Cena began to receive “prominent placement on the front and center of boxes.”
- As part of the new agreement signed in September 2019, WWE Superstars Becky Lynch and Big Show will be featured on the front of the Post Honeycomb cereal boxes and Post Golden Crisp cereal boxes respectively.
- The length of the partnership/sponsorship has not been announced.
- The 2018 revenue for Post Holdings, the parent company of Post Consumer Brands, was $6.257 billion.
PIZZA HUT (YUM! BRANDS)
- The exact year when WWE’s partnership with Pizza Hut began is not publicly available.
- However, the earliest mention of their partnership can be seen in a review of a 2010 episode of Raw.
- The article mentioned “WWE Rewind, brought to you by Pizza Hut,” which is a highlights/recap video for the previous week’s episode.
- Pizza Hut was one of the top 20 advertisers when SmackDown was still airing on the USA network.
- The brand will also be involved in SmackDown’s debut on the Fox network.
- The length of the partnership/sponsorship has not been announced.
- The 2018 revenue for Yum! Brands, the parent company of Pizza Hut, is $2 billion.
RESEARCH STRATEGY
We have defined WWE’s biggest partners/sponsors as those with the largest annual revenues, relatively well-known, and have received significant press coverage related to the partnerships. To identify WWE’s biggest partners/sponsors, we first examined the company’s press releases and articles published by external media outlets that talked about WWE extending or signing new partnership/sponsorship agreements over the past two years. Next, we identified the estimated or actual revenues of the (parent) companies that are still active partners/sponsors of WWE. Based on publicly available information, WWE’s five biggest, active partners/sponsors are Mars (parent company of Snickers, $35 billion), Progressive ($32 billion), Viacom (parent company of Paramount Pictures, $12.943 billion), Post Holdings (parent company of Post Consumer Goods, $6.257 billion), and Yum! Brands (parent company of Pizza Hut, $2 billion). These brands are considered well-known to the public and there is significant amount of information related to their partnerships with WWE.