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Toyota, Lexus to Co-Sponsor Monday Night Football

Toyota and its Lexus brand will co-sponsor ESPN’s Monday Night Football, with Lexus sponsoring nine of the halftime shows and Toyota sponsoring eight, writes Mediaweek. They will be featured in the opening and closing graphics, will have spots in the games, and will have ads in ESPN the Magazine, on ESPN Radio, ESPN.com and on SportsCenter.

For Lexus, the sponsorship includes a section on ESPN.com called The Lexus Perfect Play, which will ask fans to vote for their favorite play from the previous Sunday’s NFL game, with the winning play revealed on Monday nights when Lexus is the sponsor of the halftime show. (When Toyota is the halftime show sponsor, the winning play will be revealed only on ESPN.com.)

Toyota’s sponsorship includes Monday Night Surround, a section on ESPN.com that will contain participatory games and content related to Monday night games, allowing fans of different teams to compete against each other. On Mondays when Toyota is sponsoring the halftime show, ESPN will air a 15-second segment to highlight those activities, along with a message to log in to ESPN.com to participate.

Earlier this month, media buyers were reportedly frustrated with the NFL, noting that the league claimed new sponsorship opportunities for advertisers but had proved difficult to pin down.