PORTLAND TIMBERS + DABELLA
A CASE STUDY
Discover how Innovative Partnerships Group implemented its unique naming rights acquisitions strategy for executing long-term, revenue-generating partnerships as we secured the Portland Timbers’ first jersey partner in 13 years.

What We Did

Business Development
Asset Creation
Valuation & Analytics
Digital Outreach
Creative Services

Overview

The Portland Timbers reached out to Innovative Partnerships Group to help them find their most valuable, meaningful and recognizable partnership for the 2024 Major League Soccer (MLS) season and beyond. The Timbers interviewed other top-tier sponsorship agencies and chose Innovative Partnerships Group because of our unique naming rights acquisitions strategy for executing long-term, revenue-generating partnerships in a timely and impactful manner. Merritt Paulson, Owner of the Timbers, said “Innovative Partnerships Group had a tremendous track record with quickly, but expertly, finding naming rights partnerships and a deep understanding of the soccer landscape.”

Challenge

Innovative Partnerships Group was challenged with replacing a respected brand in Alaska Airlines, who had the second-longest tenured MLS jersey partnership (13 years) and the only jersey partner in Timbers history. The timeframe was compressed, and Innovative Partnerships Group needed to develop the commercial sales design/strategy and find a brand-right partner to meet Adidas’ end-of-Q3 2023 deadline.

Innovation

Innovative Partnerships Group implemented its proprietary Partnership IntelligenceTM, our state-of-the-art naming rights system that does the following:

  • Builds a top-tier list of targeted naming rights prospects beyond local market.
  • Identifies non-traditional industry categories.
  • Identifies companies that are new to sponsorship/naming rights partnerships.
  • Creates a customized collateral platform that initiates seamless and enthusiastic first contact to C-level decision makers.
  • Creates a lead generation system to track, measure and respond appropriately.

This approach steered Innovative Partnerships Group to DaBella, a home improvement services company headquartered out-of-market in Austin, Texas, but with roots in Portland. After an initial video email piqued the company’s interest, we started the process of building a comprehensive “lifetime value of a customer ROI model” that went beyond a typical impression-based naming rights valuation. Innovative Partnerships Group also leveraged its brand equity lift tool to show how the marketing mix assets of the naming rights program provide a much greater return than traditional digital and media. Finally we included additional modules in the Partnership Intelligence suite of services, unlocking extra value for DaBella.

Innovation (cont.)

Innovative Partnerships Group organized a face-to-face meeting in Portland between Timbers and DaBella ownership groups to review custom ideas and platforms that went beyond jersey branding. Donnie McMillan, Jr., DaBella Founder and CEO: “We did not view Innovative Partnerships Group as just a sales agency, but as a true business partner who helped our team understand the intangibles and non-traditional metrics that will allow us to substantially grow market-share and scale nationally.”

Result

DaBella and the Portland Timbers secured a multi-year, historical partnership that transcends the traditional jersey naming rights entitlement and helps to build a unique and valuable business platform for DaBella. In addition, this partnership allowed the Timbers to secure a new jersey naming rights partner well before the 2024 season and ahead of the tight deadline that Adidas set.
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