Media post: How the Automotive World is Capitalising on Sports Sponsorship
For decades, brands have been getting their names in front of millions of pairs of eyes by sponsoring sports leagues, tournaments, teams or individuals. Think of a famous tournament or league and the chances are there’s a corporate name before it.
As the battle for consumers’ attention and dollars grows, companies are partnering up with sports brands and channels more and more. One example of this is the car industry. Below is a look at how they’re doing this, some of the partnerships that have been created, how the partnerships change perception of the automotive brands and at some of the sports they’ve managed to sponsor.
Partnering up
Automotive manufacturers love to partner up with channels and brands in the sports industry, especially sports media, because millions of people around the world, young and old, watch sports events. Sponsoring media and actors in sport rewards companies with a level of exposure that festivals and other entertainment and events doesn’t.
At the same time, the company is partnering with an operator that shares a similar spirit and values as their own. If a partnership is to resonate with the people who say the brand, the partnership has to make sense.
Volkswagen and UEFA
In 2017, German car brand Volkswagen announced it had entered a four-year deal with soccer organization UEFA and would sponsor the association’s national team soccer tournaments until 2022. That included Euro 2020.
BMW and the PGA Tour
Since 2007, German brand BMW have been the title sponsors of the PGA Tour’s BMW Championship. In 2021, the company announced it had agreed with the PGA Tour and the Western Golfing Association, to continue this for another five years, through 2027. The agreement began in 2023.
Renault and Roland Garros
In 2022, French carmaker Renault partnered up with Roland Garros, often referred to as the “French Open” in English. The tournament takes place in late May each year at the Stade Roland Garros, in Paris.
Changing perceptions
The way a company markets itself can have a major impact on how consumers perceive it. In an age of digital communications and social media, companies can ramp up their marketing even further for an even more powerful impact.
BMW
BMW are masters of marketing. The world sees the company as more than a car manufacturer. When people think of BMW, they think of luxury, outstanding manufacture and unbridled driving joy, all because of how BMW has positioned itself.
The company understands its target customers exceptionally well and has made major use of the online sphere with social profiles where it can publish content and engage with a global audience. BMW has also engaged in some excellent storytelling with its “BMW Films” series|, which featured well-known actors such as Clive Owen.
Volkswagen
Following a scandal in 2015 over emissions, Volkswagen hauled itself out of the gutter it found itself in within the consumers’ minds by rebranding. The company rebranded to appear more authentic, more human, and stop showing a perfect advertising world so that audiences could relate to Volkswagen better. The approach was a digital-first one.
Renault
In the past, Renault has recognized France is its biggest market and ploughed big amounts of money into digital channels, targeting this market. However, as the company tried to become more global, it observed that it’s clear positioning as a French brand had become more muddled, which could be confusing consumers, and decided to address this.
In 2024, the company is trying to reposition itself in the eyes of young consumers. As it strives to grow more global, the brand is seeking to appeal to new audiences but calling on them to consider where Renault’s vehicles intersect with their own priorities.
Sponsorship by car brands in other sports
The sponsorships above have related to golf, tennis and soccer, but automotive brands have also gotten involved in other sports. One of these is the NFL.
Toyota
In October 2023, Japanese multinational Toyota announced it had entered an agreement with the NFL as the leagues official auto partner. The brand considered it essential to engage with fans in their own environment, whether they’re online and checking the NFL standings or attending games, and saw the NFL as a powerful platform to communicate its own brand message to football fans across the US.
It’s not the first time the company has worked with the NBA. Back in the 1980s, the “Toyota Halftime Show” first appeared on ABC’s Monday Night Football, and in 2006, the company sponsored halftime on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Through its network of local dealerships, Toyota also sponsors 11 teams in the NFL.
Sponsorship in the sporting world provides companies with an almost unparalleled opportunity to get their brand in front of millions of people. Automotive companies have realized this and are making the most of these opportunities by forming partnerships with organizations and other actors in sport whose values align with their own as well as offer a platform for projecting their own brand message further.
