By Rick Horrow and Karla Swatek
May 17, 2013
Fast food chain Zaxby’s has signed sponsorship deals with 25 universities as it attempts to brand itself as “The Official Chicken of College Sports.” The schools that are partnering with Zaxby’s – including Alabama, Florida, and North Carolina – are concentrated in the Southeast, which is where most of the restaurant’s stores are located. Zaxby’s has 570 locations across 13 states.
The company’s motivation for increasing its sports marketing budget is fairly apparent. Zaxby’s sponsorships are aimed at challenging Chick-fil-A’s dominance in the college sports space, as Chick-fil-A sponsors a bowl game in Atlanta and advertises heavily on ESPN. It’ll be fun to see who asserts themselves as the actual “official” chicken of college sports.
