Throwback Thursday: Fun with Football

The July 11, 1988 issue of National Home Center News, the forerunner of HBSDealer, covered the formation of the Home Team, a promotional partnership between the National Football League and manufacturers.

The article reported: “The NFL has recruited 14 manufacturers, including four from the home improvement industry, seven in the automotive aftermarket and three others, for a ‘Home Team’ promotion that begins in August with the distribution of 10 million free Monday Night Football guides and some major prizes.”

The four home improvement companies who played ball were Memphis, Tenn.-based Thompson & Formby; Toledo, Ohio-based Owens-Corning; Raleigh, North Carolina-based CooperTools; and Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams.

The program was inspired by the previous season’s NFL jacket giveaway promotion from Owens-Corning (photo above). How successful was that program? Don Garber, the NFL Properties marketing director, called it the most successful NFL promotion ever, attracting “spectacular” numbers of participants among retailers and their customers.

Russell Cramer, the VP of Cramer Home Centers in East Stroudsburg, Pa., explained the simple appeal of the NFL promotions. “Most of our customers like football and relate to the teams,” he told our reporter in 1988.