If you're one of the millions of people who have watched a Miami Heat game in the past three years, which odds say you are, then you've seen the Heat's jersey sponsor logo. Have you felt compelled to Google who the heck Ultimate Software is? From the looks of our data, not a lot of people have looked up who this company is, and most people don't know who they are.
And Ultimate Software ($PRIVATE:ULTI) is absolutely fine with that.
The South Florida-based tech company develops and sells software systems, and also works in the cloud and in human capital management. They employ roughly 4,000 people and were bought for $11 billion last year. Ultimate quietly continues to rake in money, and yet, doesn't showboat about being on Heat jerseys worldwide. It doesn't promote or post about one of the most popular NBA teams in the league, they don't talk about that sponsorship deal, and at the end of this season, Ultimate could pull out like how 5Miles stopped advertising with the Dallas Mavericks.
Since the announcement of Ultimate Software's logo being on Heat jerseys in 2017, only around 5,000 people followed them on Twitter. That's not a lot year over year, and yet, we get the sense Ultimate Software doesn't really care. It's a drop in the bucket to them, to spend a few million on this endeavor and just keep doing business in South Florida where the sun keeps shining.
This season for the Miami Heat is the most exciting and best since LeBron James left the team years ago. And Facebook chatter about Jimmy Butler's jersey saying "Ultimate Software" never went over 1,000 people. The number of likes on Facebook also barely went up.
And you'd think being a part of a billion-dollar tech company located near South Beach would be an enticing reason for people to want to join Ultimate. But hiring is down 42% since 2018. A lot of this data might contradict real-world logic, and yet we have a hunch Ultimate Software will do just fine with or without the NBA.
You can check out the links below in our Further Reading section for all the examples of companies improving in social media data since being on NBA jerseys that sell millions around the globe. Maybe the Atlanta Hawks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Detroit Pistons all need local sponsors way more than the Heat.
About the Data:
Thinknum tracks companies using the information they post online - jobs, social and web traffic, product sales and app ratings - and creates data sets that measure factors like hiring, revenue and foot traffic. Data sets may not be fully comprehensive (they only account for what is available on the web), but they can be used to gauge performance factors like staffing and sales.