By Paul Nicholson
August 12 – Mexican beer brand Tecate has added a third regional sponsorship of one of Europe’s top club, this week signing Paris Saint-Germain who join Barcelona and Juventus as having Tecate as the official regional beer.
Tecate is the brand leader in the portfolio of CM/Heineken Mexico and promotes itself via a ‘We are Football’ catchline. In recent months the brand has expaned aggressively in football sponsorship both in Mexico and with foreign clubs.
The five-year deal – no figure has been announced – is a sign of Tecate’s commitment to associated with the biggest and the best in football, and is unlikely to stop at these three giant clubs.
Franco Maria Maggi, brand director of CM/Heineken Mexico, said: “All of the big teams in the world share the same competitive spirit and ambition, which is appealing to Tecate®. We want to be present in these moments of greatness and excitement.”
At the centre of the deal for each of the three clubs is their reach into the Mexican market through digital and social media.
PSG TV is broadcast on the internet in three language versions (English, French and Spanish), and PSG.fr publishes online in eight versions getting an average of 15 million page views and 1.5 million unique visitors per month (with over 30% from overseas). The club has 25 million followers on Facebook across its networks.
Juventus has similarly blazed a social media trail that attracted Tecate, having shown a 35% increase in the number of fans in Mexico in the past four years and built a community of 2.8 million followers.
PSG, compared to the other big European clubs, is a later entrant to the international commercial market, but is rapidly making its mark. The club’s annual revenue has quintupled, reaching €474 million in 2014, while sponsorship income has increased almost tenfold.
Substantially funded from the deep pockets of its wealthy Qatari owners, the Tecate deal shows that the club’s success on the pitch does translate into sponsorship revenue.
Frédéric Longuépée, Paris Saint-Germain Deputy General Manager, said: “This first regional partnership in Central America demonstrates the attractiveness of the Paris Saint-Germain brand, which continues to expand internationally. Tecate® feeds their passion for football with prestigious alliances and we are delighted to welcome them into the Paris Saint-Germain family. Together we will dream bigger and conquer the hearts of Mexican fans.”
Driving PSG’s revenue reliance away from its cash-rich owners is crucial to keep the club away from falling foul of UEFA’s financial fair play rules. Having won the French title for the past three years and made the quarter finals of the Champions League as well in each of those seasons, the club is learning fast on and off the pitch.
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