麻豆传媒团队

February 8, 2022
Life After Witt

Prepping for the Super Bowl

Jim McCoy 鈥98 Leads Sports Marketing for Fortune 100 Insurance & Financial Services Company

Since its inception in 1966, the Super Bowl has served as the featured event on the National Football League (NFL) calendar. It has also become a national holiday of sorts, annually attracting a mammoth television audience that makes it the biggest event on the sports marketing calendar as well.

At Nationwide, one of the world鈥檚 largest insurance and financial services companies, many of those sports marketing responsibilities fall to Jim McCoy, Wittenberg class of 1998. The Columbus, Ohio-based company鈥檚 associate vice president for sports marketing, McCoy has more than 20 years of experience in the industry, including the last 17 years helping to build Nationwide鈥檚 brand through sports partnerships.

McCoy has negotiated and managed sponsorships for Nationwide in golf, baseball, NASCAR, soccer, the NFL, and numerous talent partnerships, including Peyton Manning, Danica Patrick, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. The NFL partnership includes Nationwide鈥檚 involvement as the presenting sponsor of the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year (WPMOY) Award, which honors NFL players for their efforts on and off the field.

鈥淚 have represented Nationwide at the Super Bowl each of the last eight seasons to execute our WPMOY activation program and Super Bowl guest experiences for our top insurance producers,鈥 McCoy said. 鈥淢y duties during the week include working with our WPMOY nominees for in-person appearances, Media Row interviews, and the overall accountability for Nationwide鈥檚 brand integration into NFL Honors Awards program, and our pregame moment for the WPMOY winner on Super Bowl Sunday.鈥

This year, McCoy鈥檚 Super Bowl week in Los Angeles includes a speaking appearance for Brand Innovators Sports Marketing Upfronts, which offers content daily February 8-10. McCoy is a featured panelist in a session scheduled for 1:20 p.m. EST Wednesday, February 9.

My team executes two waves of once-in-a-lifetime hospitality experiences that include unique access to NFL events, interaction with NFL legend Peyton Manning and many other current and former players, along with attending the Super Bowl. I also serve as a spokesperson for Nationwide for industry panels, media opportunities, and player panel interviews throughout the week.
Jim McCoy '98

Prior to joining Nationwide, McCoy managed corporate sponsorships at Newell Rubbermaid, including relationships with Roush Fenway Racing and driver Kurt Busch, and he was an event manager at Nationwide Arena during the launch of the Columbus Blue Jackets franchise. In addition to managing official relationships with prominent national leagues and organizations, McCoy has led Nationwide鈥檚 marketing efforts locally, cultivating sponsorships with the PGA TOUR鈥檚 Memorial Tournament, the Blue Jackets, the Columbus Crew, the Columbus Clippers, the Columbus Zoo, the Columbus Marathon, and The Ohio State 麻豆传媒团队 tremendously popular NCAA Division I intercollegiate teams.

McCoy volunteers time to his alma mater as a member of Wittenberg鈥檚 Alumni Board, and he also serves on the Greater Columbus Sports Commission Board. He said that his Wittenberg experience prepared him well for his chosen career path.

鈥淚 had a great four years at Wittenberg. It was the perfect fit for me to thrive as a student-athlete and develop into a professional,鈥 McCoy said. 鈥淢y management major and economics minor set me up for success as I moved into graduate school at Ohio State. Football taught me to be a leader, how to manage my time, and the value of hard work and perseverance. Wittenberg is a place that I was able to make lifelong friends, and it is where I met my wife Melinda.鈥

Business & Economics
Wittenberg offers majors in a range of business disciplines, each of which combines professional expertise, practical experience and a solid liberal arts foundation.
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Ryan Maurer
Ryan Maurer
Associate Director of Athletics for Communications, Web Strategy & Content

About Wittenberg

Wittenberg's curriculum has centered on the liberal arts as an education that develops the individual's capacity to think, read, and communicate with precision, understanding, and imagination. We are dedicated to active, engaged learning in the core disciplines of the arts and sciences and in pre-professional education grounded in the liberal arts. Known for the quality of our faculty and their teaching, Wittenberg has more Ohio Professors of the Year than any four-year institution in the state. The university has also been recognized nationally for excellence in community service, sustainability, and intercollegiate athletics. Located among the beautiful rolling hills and hollows of Springfield, Ohio, Wittenberg offers more than 100 majors, minors and special programs, enviable student-faculty research opportunities, a unique student success center, service and study options close to home and abroad, a stellar athletics tradition, and successful career preparation.

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