WHY IT RATES: Travelers can be very loyal to their baseball teams, and travel agents with clients who support the Washington Nationals will likely consider National Car Rental due to the company’s partnership with the MLB organization.—Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
National Car Rental announced Tuesday a new sponsorship agreement designating National as the Official Car Rental Partner of the Washington Nationals, host of the 2018 All-Star Game on July 17.
The agreement between the Nationals baseball organization and National Car Rental extends through 2020 and marks the brand’s 10th Major League Baseball team partnership. These include official car rental designations with the Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Angels, Houston Astros, St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals and Chicago White Sox.
Consumer-facing elements of the Nationals partnership will include an outfield wall sign in the right-field power alley adjacent to the home bullpen, as well as a rotating National Car Rental banner behind home plate at 40 of the club’s home games. The outfield wall sign will remain in place during all events and festivities surrounding the 2018 All-Star Game. National will also be the presenting sponsor of the Player of the Road Trip – 26 custom-branded social posts that will ask fans to choose the top performing player on the road via an interactive digital poll.
“National and the Nationals: We like the sound of that! The club’s on-field success and dedicated fan base – not only in the D.C. area, but across the country – make this a terrific partnership for us,” said Rob Connors, vice president of brand marketing for National. “We look forward to teaming up with the Nationals and being a part of the fan experience at Nationals Park.”
“We are excited to welcome National Car Rental to the Nationals family,” said Alan H. Gottlieb, chief operating officer of Lerner Sports. “The name alignment is just one of the many ways this partnership is a great match for both organizations.”
The on-field and road trip elements will be accompanied by multiple digital assets including two homepage takeovers, video pre-roll and a dedicated email to the more than 256,000 active subscribers to Nationals.com. National Car Rental will also extend specially priced car rental rates to the organization – which includes Nationals players, staff and coaches – as well as access to National Car Rental’s Emerald Club, the car rental industry’s first comprehensive frequent-renter program, which expedites the rental process by offering counter bypass as well as Drop & GoSM service with convenient e-receipts.
Emerald Club members have access to the Emerald Aisle – an exclusive section of the lot where members can select any vehicle as long as they reserve a mid-sized car – at 63 locations in the U.S. and Canada, including the top 50 airports for business travel.
For more information, reach out to your local travel agent.
SOURCE: National Car Rental press release.
