Conti Furthers its Football Sponsorship

Continental AG has added another championship to its football portfolio. In addition to its global sponsorship of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and 2014 event in Brazil, the tyre maker has become a ‘premium’ sponsor of the DFB (German Football Association) Cup in its home market.

The package purchased from Infront Sports & Media, the DFB’s exclusive marketing partner is for a period of two years. It guarantees Continental not only a television presence through brand advertising and other publicity vehicles in the stadiums where all 63 cup games will be held throughout Germany, but also a significant contingent of tickets that can be used for publicity purposes. Furthermore, Continental has signed an additional contract with the DFB, under which it has purchased the rights to use the DFB brand for publicity purposes.

“With this sponsorship, we are building a bridge in the German-speaking countries between the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the qualification matches for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, which are going to be getting underway in 2012. In doing so, we wish to put our commitment to pro football on a broader base, expand it further regionally too as the central communication platform, and take a further step towards clearly positioning the premium brand Continental with a focus on safety and braking performance,” explained Timo Röbbel, who is responsible for sports sponsorship at Continental in its German-speaking markets.

“It is particularly important for us to involve our business customers in this activation process as intensively as possible. The nationwide series of matches in the DFB Cup will provide us with a very wide range of new opportunities for targeting customer loyalty and improving our local presence,” Röbbel continued.

“We are delighted to welcome Continental on board as a leading company that is active in the automotive sector and based in Germany, but also very successful internationally,” commented Denni Strich, head of marketing at the DFB. “With its extensive network of dealers throughout Germany and the high level interest it has shown in promoting a strategic commitment in a spirit of friendship, Continental will certainly further enhance the premium character of the DFB Cup even more.”

Continental has been committed to international professional football since 1995, and the company also announced earlier this year that it would be sponsoring major league ‘soccer’ in the USA for the first time. This means, the company says, that it is pursuing “a consistent and single-minded global strategy” of using football as a communications platform.