The 2009 Avon Tyres British GT Championship was decided by a single point in a title fight that went down to the very last lap of the 14-race season. Identical twin brothers David and Godfrey Jones clinched the honours, sharing the driving of an Ascari KZ1R in the series they first entered nine years ago.
Maxxis reports that it is working hard to synergise its sponsorship and advertising links with Premier League football clubs and its major fleet business customers, treating the latter to VIP hospitality with the former. Four Maxxis customers enjoyed a Yossi Benayoun hat-trick – his third in two years – courtesy of the manufacturer, when Liverpool beat Burnley 4-0 at Anfield on 12 September.
Indian cricketing icon, Sachin Tendulkar has left the MRF dressing room, following ten years with the tyre-maker and sports equipment manufacturer. During this time, Tendulkar spent weeks at the crease, helping spread brand awareness by carrying MRF’s logo on the front of his perfectly straight bat. The Little Master will now promote equipment for Adidas, while relative – though impressive – new-boy Gautam Gambhir steps into the Sachin-shaped hole with MRF.
Maxxis is continuing to increase its exposure to the tyre-buying public through football sponsorship, and having made key Barclays Premier League signings eagerly awaits the start of the 2009/10 season. After agreeing to extend its sponsorship of Liverpool FC until the end of the 2011/12 season, Maxxis has also renewed its arrangement with Aston Villa FC and signed a new deal with Sunderland AFC.
DHL Automotive, the logistics expert which has many clients within the tyre industry, has become a joint sponsor for the forthcoming NTDA Annual Dinner and TAFF Awards which is being held in Manchester next month.
An extension of Bridgestone’s title sponsorship for the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational through to 2014 has been agreed upon. An agreement with the International Federation of PGA Tours was reached and announced on August 9. Bridgestone comments that details of the agreement are currently being finalised; these will be agreed upon in the "coming weeks".
Following on the from the company’s three-year deal with Liverpool FC, sponsorship of the 2009 Isle of Man TT Races, ongoing role as title sponsor of the Maxxis ACU British Motocross Championship and increased involvement in professional drifting tend to make the biggest headlines, Maxxis has reiterated grass roots sport.
At the end of June the company announced it has sponsored two Kenilworth Wardens youth teams, which play matches every Sunday in the Mid-Warwickshire Football Leagues. Last season the Under-9s were among 66 teams competing in the Mid-Warwickshire Junior Football League and they finished fourth in Division 1 and made the quarter final stage of the League Cup.
UK Employees from Midlands tyre manufacturer Goodyear Dunlop have started work on raising £30,000 for the company’s chosen charity, the Teenage Cancer Trust, by abseiling down the 120ft side of Fort Dunlop in Birmingham. 12 associates from across the company took part to show their support of the company’s new corporate charity, including company directors Darren Hayes-Powell, Nigel Sowerby and group managing director Mark Brickhill.
Brickhill commented: “Having raised in excess of £5,000 in sponsorship from the event, I would like to thank all of those involved for conquering their fears and kick starting this fierce fundraising campaign. Teenage Cancer Trust is a fantastic charity, and we are thrilled to be supporting the development of a unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital that will be the first in the county for 13 to 16 year olds.
“We have been so touched by the work that the charity does and I’m certain that all of our associates will get firmly behind the fundraising to help to make a difference to the lives of the young people who face this terrible illness.”
Continental’s redesign of its ContiSoccerWorld.com website has been completed just in time for the opening kick-off at the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 in South Africa. The football site that was first launched in 2005 is now online with a new layout that offers not just background reports on South Africa and the players, teams and coaches in the worldwide qualification matches, but also statistics, attractive competitions and interactive content. Conti adds that, thanks to a content cooperation with the “sid” sport information service, the site will remain up-to-date.
Maxxis has announced that it will extend its brand awareness activities at Anfield, the home of Liverpool FC, following its tie up for the final stages of the 2008/09 Barclays Premier League. The company has concluded a deal which will lengthen the relationship by a further three years. As an Official Partner of Liverpool FC until the end of the 2011/12 season, Maxxis will be heavily involved with the club – one of the giants of the game – showing the company’s desire to further its commitment to football and sport in general.
Under the terms of the deal, Maxxis will be entitled to an extensive rights inventory, providing it with prominent exposure through a pitchside advertising presence at every home fixture (except Champions League matches) plus advertisements in This is Anfield (the matchday programme) and in LFC Magazine, the club’s weekly magazine. Maxxis will also feature on Liverpool FC’s own TV channel, LFC TV – which was launched in 2007 and keeps almost three million UK viewers up to date with the club’s activities. The brand will continue to advertise on one of the UK’s most popular football websites, www.liverpoolfc.tv.
Kumho broke the one million tyre barrier in 2008. According to sole distributor Micheldever Tyre Services (MTS), it was the first time that annual sales of Kumho-branded car, van and 4×4 tyres have reached this height. Wholesale director, Alan Baldwin, said he was delighted with the news and added that MTS’s sales grew 30 per cent over its full year 2007 result:
“Throughout 2008 MTS and Kumho worked tirelessly to improve supply, and by a combination of better forecasting and supply chain management, product availability improved dramatically over 2007.” According to Baldwin things got even better for MTS and Kumho in the early stages of this year: “2009 has presented further challenges particularly, when as in March, the huge increases dealers were seeing in consumer demand resulted in a near 40 per cent increase over March 2008 sales.”
Infinity tyres, distributed in Europe by the Infinity Tyres Europe Limited, has given details of the company’s strong commitment to raising its profile through attendance at future international events. Infinity (alongside related brands) will shortly be exhibiting at both Autopromotec (Bologna, May 20-24) and Automechanika Middle East (Dubai, May 31 – June 2). In addition the company has already committed to exhibiting at Reifen 2010 in Essen, Germany. Infinity Tyres Europe will have substantial stands at each of the exhibitions and will be showcasing two new Infinity products in Bologna and Dubai.
Infinity tyres are available through UK distributor, Bond International. Bond was formed in 1970 and has expanded its operations consistently over the last 40 years. The company now has four warehouses across the UK, with over 250,000 square feet of warehousing, half a million tyre capacity and a fleet of over 70 vehicles.
Goodyear UK is to sponsor the Royal National Lifeboat Institution’s Flood Rescue Team, funding a raft of specialist training and equipment, synergistically linking the manufacturer’s emphasis on safety with its charity work. The RNLI’s Flood Rescue Team is a uniquely trained arm of the RNLI, able to operate worldwide to assist in rescues in flood hit areas. Having raised money for the charity in the past through tyre sales, Goodyear states that it is pleased to be taking the relationship a step further by supporting this vital service.
Goodyear UK brand manager Michelle Fisher said, “Through our previous fundraising for the RNLI we learned about the inland work carried out by the Flood Response Team, and the amazing help that they have given so many people in areas that you wouldn’t necessarily think could be affected by such dangers. There is great synergy between our organisations due to our own commitment to safety – our wet weather specialist tyres are designed to save people’s lives in wet conditions, RNLI volunteer crew members save people at sea around the coasts of UK and ROI every day.”
Marangoni continued their 2009 brand support programme by taking title sponsorship of The Marangoni Fast Show at Santa Pod Raceway at the end of March.
This unique event is recognised in UK tuning and enthusiast circles as the first real opportunity of the year to show off and view some of the country’s most modified and tuned cars. It is a key event that is greatly supported by clubs and individuals from the length and breadth of Great Britain. The weekend weather was fantastically spring-like which added even more to the already huge crowd, estimated at well over 20,000 people.
Following its sponsorship of Everton, Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur, Maxxis has signed a deal with Liverpool FC to display its branding at Anfield until the end of this season (2008-09). The new partnership offers Maxxis worldwide exposure using the LED perimeter advertising system at the stadium for against Arsenal (21 April), Newcastle (2 May) and Tottenham Hotspur (24 May), in addition to the victory over Blackburn Rovers 11 April.
The partnership package includes prominent Maxxis Tyres advertising on Liverpool FC’s official website the UK’s most popular football website with 1.6 million registered users and up to 2.9 million unique visitors per month.
“The Barclays Premier League title run-in will be very close so we are delighted to have the opportunity to raise awareness of our brand at Liverpool FC games that will not only be sell-outs, but which will also be the main focus of TV’s football coverage for the remainder of the season,” said Maxxis Tyres UK’s managing director Derek McMartin.
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