Bojangles adds wrestling to sports marketing menu with new WWE partnership

Bojangles has added the nation’s most popular wrestling series to the Charlotte-based restaurant chain’s sports marketing recipe.

This month marked the beginning of a seven-week promotion featuring WWE wrestlers on souvenir cups sold at Bojangles restaurants. TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO) owns WWE.

Bojangles has 800 restaurants in 17 states, with most of those clustered in the South, Southeast and Mid-Atlantic.

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Response to the promotion has been enthusiastic — and already has Bojangles Chief Marketing Officer Tom Boland thinking about future collaborations. Boland, whose previous career stops included a stint at WWE from 2007 to 2012, came to Bojangles last year.

Soon after he arrived, Boland began pondering how to expand the company’s sports marketing into new areas. Bojangles has long been active in NASCAR, including Charlotte Motor Speedway, and local and regional pro and college teams (Clemson, South Carolina and the NFL Carolina Panthers). Tailgating tie-ins and on-site concessions have been staples of those sponsorships.

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