WHY IT RATES: Travel agents and advisors who work with baseball fans should be informing their clients about the expanded relationship between National Car Rental and Major League Baseball.-Donald Wood, Breaking News Senior Writer.
National Car Rental announced that it is now the Official Car Rental Partner of the San Francisco Giants and Chicago Cubs. The Giants and Cubs join eight other Major League Baseball teams that boast official designations with the car rental brand, including the Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, New York Mets, St. Louis Cardinals, Texas Rangers and Washington Nationals.
National and the Giants organization have agreed to a three-year agreement that runs through 2021. The partnership with the Cubs organization spans five years, running through 2023.
This season, baseball fans will see a National Car Rental sign in the outfield at both Oracle Park and Wrigley Field. As part of its Chicago partnership, National will be the presenting sponsor of "Cubs Stolen Bases" replays. In San Francisco, National's sponsorship will include signage visible on the Giants' new batter's box LED sign.
"The Giants and Cubs are fantastic baseball organizations with extremely passionate and dedicated fan bases," said Frank Thurman, vice president of marketing for National. "We are big baseball fans ourselves and are thrilled to expand our involvement in 'America's pastime' by supporting these teams as their official car rental partner."
"We are always looking for ways to delight our team and fans, and National is a brand well-known for rewarding loyalty and providing its customers with a seamless car rental experience," said Jason Pearl, senior vice president of partnerships and business development for the Giants. "This partnership is a great fit for our organization."
"We're happy to announce National is now the official car rental of the Chicago Cubs," said Alex Seyferth, vice president of corporate partnerships, Marquee Sports and Entertainment. "We've enjoyed a long-standing business relationship and look forward to building on it through National Car Rental branding on the iconic Wrigley Field outfield wall, introducing a new travel content series and offering specialty car rental prices."
Off the field, sponsorship elements will be accompanied by multiple digital and social assets for both organizations. The Cubs partnership includes a takeover of the Cubs Destinations homepage, a unique travel digital content series and a dedicated email to cubs.com subscribers. The Giants partnership includes a Facebook and Twitter social content series and a dedicated email to Giants.com subscribers.
National Car Rental will also extend specially priced car rental rates to both organizations-which includes Giants and Cubs 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 & Go 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.
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