Apollo Tyres has extended its Premier League football sponsorship, adding Crystal Palace FC to its existing global partnership with Manchester United. As Official Tyre Partner, Apollo will have a significant presence at all the club’s domestic matches.
Apollo Tyres has thrown its hat into the European truck and bus radial ring and introduced a complete range for our regions. Furthermore, the company is only distributing these products online, through its own ApolloTyresDirect.com portal. The company is the first, and so far, only tyre manufacturer to use the direct online approach to market here, and it says pricing on the site is completely transparent and free from hidden costs or complicated deals.
Dutch electronic music artist DJ Hardwell comes across as an unlikely bedfellow for a tyre manufacturer, however his association with Apollo Vredestein has proven golden. The ‘Run Wild’ music video by DJ Hardwell, part of Vredestein’s #ROCKTHEROAD promotional campaign, has been presented with a Golden Dolphin in the Integrated Communication category at the Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards 2016. Facing competition from over 1,000 submissions and 177 selected productions, Vredestein was awarded the Golden Dolphin at a ceremony held in Palm Beach, Cannes last night.
According to LMC figures, Europe’s light commercial vehicle market is growing 35 per cent faster than the passenger car market, and these vehicles now account for 11 per cent of the region’s vehicle parc. This growth is to a large extent being driven by a strong rise in parcel deliveries, and Apollo Tyres believes that the 21 million light commercial vehicle tyres currently sold in Europe annually will increase to 25 million tyres per year by the end of 2020.
Dunlop walked away with a gold OttoCar at yesterday’s AutoVision Awards ceremony in Frankfurt, and Vredestein landed a silver accolade. The biennial awards ceremony took place during the IAA show and saw Goodyear Dunlop Tires honoured for its ‘One Second’ commercial. One Second also won a black award for best direction and best editing. A silver OttoCar award came Apollo Vredestein’s way in recognition of its Vredestein Snowtrac and Quattrac 5 product launch films.
It started two years ago with just two markets – India and the UK – and by the start of 2015, Apollo Tyres’ association with Manchester United Football Club covered 69 countries in Asia, Europe and parts of Africa. The tyre maker now reports that it has extended its relationship with Manchester United even further; it now includes the whole of Africa, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Brunei.
Apollo Tyres has appointed J. Walter Thompson Company as its global creative agency. According to Apollo, the agency won after a multi-agency pitch. J. Walter Thompson Company replaces Apollo Tyres’ earlier agency, The Brooklyn Brothers.
In UK football circles Apollo Tyres is best known for its Manchester United sponsorship, and the tyre maker now aims to replicate its Manchester experience over in Germany. Apollo Vredestein has signed up as partner to Bundesliga team VfL Wolfsburg for the 2014/15 season, and as national partner for the Wolfsburg men’s team and international partner for the women’s team for the 2015/16 season. In a statement announcing the deal, the company said such a sponsorship is in line with Apollo’s strategy and “should make a significant contribution to promoting the Apollo brand internationally.”
With its sights set on gaining a bigger part of the European tyre market, on 27 May Apollo Tyres introduced two new tyres in Essen. The two new tyres, Apollo Alnac 4G All Season and Apollo Alnac 4G Winter tyres, joined to the existing range of Apollo Alnac 4G tyres being sold in Europe. Both tyres were developed in Apollo Tyres’ Global R&D Centre in the Netherlands and have been optimised to suit the requirements of European drivers and the European road network. While this was going on in the foreground, in the background the company has been involved in complex discussions relating to its much publicised plans to build an Eastern European factory. To this end Tyres & Accessories spoke with chief marketing officer Marco Paracciani. But first the new products…
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