Aaron's: A Marketing Machine??

I’m not very knowledgeable about the company history of Aaron's. I don’t know I'll ever be a customer of Aaron's. But an odd observation led me down a trail that revealed this lease-to-own retailer to be a dynamic marketing machine.

This discovery began while I was watching the 2/20/2014 installment of college basketball's greatest rivalry. My beloved Blue Devils were not victorious in Chapel Hill that night but, while watching the game, I noticed a unique sponsor logo placement in the Dean Dome. Can you spot the Aaron's logo on the backboard support in the photo below?

Photo Courtesy ESPN

At first, I didn't think much about this logo placement. But then I noticed the lack of other corporate logos in that facility and on the court. This exclusivity made me wonder more about why a furniture leasor would go to so much trouble (and expense) for this exposure.

I had a basic understanding that Aaron's was involved with NASCAR and seeing this logo in the Dean Dome is perfectly acceptable knowing that the University of North Carolina is very near to the home of NASCAR. But I wanted to know more and a visit to the Aaron's website showed me much more than I expected to see.

The folks in charge of running Aaron's are apparently big believers in marketing. Aarons.com is an appealing website and partners well with their active social media pages. But I was really impressed when I clicked on a link that took me to Aaron's Sports. When it comes to sports sponsorships, there's a lot more to Aaron’s than just NASCAR (which they cover very, very well). Aaron's has partnered with professional and collegiate football, basketball and baseball throughout the southeast.

The more I uncovered, the more I realized that I had previously seen the Aaron's logo prominently displayed at all kinds of sporting events. Randomly spotting the Aaron's logo while watching the Duke/UNC game prompted me to take action - something all advertisements strive to accomplish. It also triggered my memory about Aaron's branding efforts, which is a slam dunk for marketers - no pun intended.