By Mark Baber
June 10 – UEFA has signed three new major sponsorship deals covering its European club competitions with PepsiCo, Enterprise Rent-a-car and Unicredit.
PepsiCo – a new partner of the UEFA Champions League
The US beverage giant Pepsico has acquired a package of UEFA Champions League marketing rights covering the three-year cycle from next season to the end of the 2017/18 season, commencing July 1.
Under the terms of the agreement, PepsiCo’s flagship brands Lays/Walkers, Gatorade and Pepsi Max will serve as lead brands for Europe’s top professional club soccer tournament with Doritos, Lipton and 7UP brands also being integrated into the sponsorship programme.
Ramon Laguarta, PepsiCo Europe chief executive, said: “Today’s announcement takes PepsiCo’s long-standing relationship with great soccer to another level.
“The UEFA Champions League is without a doubt one of the most prestigious football competitions in the world, and with more than a billion football fans watching the matches every season, this new partnership offers unprecedented opportunities for both parties.”
PepsiCo joins the competition’s six current partners: Gazprom, Heineken, MasterCard, Nissan, PlayStation and UniCredit, along with official suppliers Adidas and HTC.
Guy-Laurent Epstein, UEFA Events SA marketing director, said: “PepsiCo is a truly global partner, and we are excited to be working closely with them on engaging fans across the world through innovative marketing activations, while also benefiting from their extensive experience in the entertainment area to further enhance the UEFA Champions League brand.”
Enterprise Rent-A-Car sponsors Europa League
Enterprise Rent-A-Car, part of US-based Enterprise Holdings, has signed a three-year agreement with UEFA to become an official worldwide sponsor of the UEFA Europa League beginning with the 2015/16 season and ending in 2017/18 and including 205 games a season.
Commenting on the sponsorship, Jim Stoeppler, Vice President, European Brand Marketing at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, said: “Sponsoring the UEFA Europa League is a big moment for Enterprise Rent-A-Car in Europe. Our first European office was established in the UK over 20 years ago, and now, through organic growth, acquisition and franchise partnerships, we have a business that spans almost every nation on the continent. We anticipate that this sponsorship will cement awareness of the Enterprise brand across Europe and further engage with customers.
Epstein added: “With this announcement of Enterprise as an Official Partner of the UEFA Europa League for the 2015-18 commercial cycle, and with a brand such as Enterprise on-board, it is clear to see UEFA’s ambition to develop the competition further over the next three years. This partnership will serve to maintain the growth in popularity of the competition on a global basis. Following the 2015 Final we continue to see the competition going from strength-to-strength so we are delighted to welcome Enterprise for what promises to be an exciting three seasons and we look forward to working with them to fulfil their sponsorship objectives.”
UniCredit renews and extends until 2018
Meanwhile UniCredit has renewed with UEFA for the 2015-2018 cycle extending its sponsorship rights to all major European club football tournaments. UniCredit will become Official Bank of UEFA Club Competitions and support the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Futsal Cup Finals, UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Women’s Champions League and UEFA Youth League.
Federico Ghizzoni, CEO of UniCredit, said: “We are proud to announce that UniCredit will become the Official Bank of UEFA Club Competitions. Over the past years, the partnership with UEFA has been a driving factor in achieving our set objectives. More than 300 UEFA Champions League-related campaigns initiated across our Group show the appreciation of our markets and divisions for this sponsorship. Having effectively established our brand, the augmented rights package allows us to shift our focus to support the daily business and empower the local brands. It will enable us to reach even more football fans across Europe, granting us additional sales and relationship management opportunities.”
Epstein commented: “UniCredit has been one of our sponsors for six years now, and we are delighted that we were able to agree on the extension of this partnership. Their renewed and extended support and contribution, particularly in the promotion of our competitions across Eastern Europe, is highly valued.”
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