Awarding Keys to the Newly Sponsored City

Advertisers and city fathers are no longer strange bedfellows, as marketing money now ventures far beyond city-stadium naming rights. And while they are still not without controversy, private/public partnerships, once a delicate subject, have become civic policy.

In April, New York City named New York Yankees vp/business development Joe Perello its first chief marketing officer. On Sept. 9, the hire bore fruit when the city inked a $166 million Snapple-in-schools deal.

While Perello has said that major New York landmarks are off-limits to such deals, naming rights now extend to Saturn playgrounds and a Tommy Hilfiger Theatre in Long Island, “naming rights” legislation for schools and train stops in Minnesota, and solicitations for “partnerships with the private sector” from the Illinois governor’s office.

Cash-strapped states, joining private schools in charging students for traditional extracurriculars such as bands and sports, have all but put out RFPs.