The image greeting Colorado fans as they log onto the Buffs' athletics website on Monday is an illustration of the Aflac duck, a longtime Deion Sanders sponsor, standing before a trademark Deion saying: "You look good, you play good. You play good, they pay good."
Where does Coach Prime's brand end and Colorado football's begin? Does it matter?
Buffs Sports Properties announced a "first-of-its-kind" apparel sponsorship where Aflac's logo will appear on Colorado coaches headsets this fall.
In fact, Colorado will produce eight different headsets "designed to coordinate with his team's helmets and prominently featuring the Aflac logo."
"Coach Prime is truly one-of-a-kind, and it shows in every aspect of his style," said Aflac Senior VP and Chief Marketing Officer Garth Knutson. "Enhancing the Colorado Buffaloes football staff's look through custom headset designs felt like a seamless next step. Just as Aflac supplements health insurance for millions of Americans, we're supplementing their game day fit."
And to be clear, this seems like a natural, what-took-them-so-long marketing idea.
Colorado was among the 10 most-watched programs in college football last year, with five games topping the 7.2 million mark. Though the Coach Prime fascination wore off as the Buffs' 3-0 start wilted into a 4-8 finish, Colorado will still be a big TV draw in 2024, at least early in the year. CU opens with FCS No. 2 North Dakota State in a Thursday night ESPN game, then visits Nebraska in an NBC prime-time game on Sept. 7. The Buffaloes visit Colorado State on Sept. 14 for a prime-time game on CBS.
If Colorado remains competitive into October and November, a stretch of five AP preseason Top 25 opponents in seven games will be sure to draw lots of eyeballs.
And if the Buffs aren't competitive, well, those Aflac headsets will still be plastered on lots of "Coach Prime is lost"-type pieces across the media.
Win/win, right?
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.