What are car companies betting heavily on the World Cup?
On November 21, the 2022 Qatar World Cup officially kicked off.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that the World Cup is expected to attract 5 billion people around the world to watch.
Car companies that have always been generous in marketing will not let go of this quadrennial sports event.
According to incomplete statistics from Red Star Capital Bureau, auto companies such as Hyundai Motor, Volkswagen, BMW, Toyota, Fiat, and SAIC MG sponsored the teams that entered the World Cup, among which SAIC MG is the only Chinese auto company.
In addition to sponsoring teams, many car brands are vying to take advantage of the World Cup.
As early as 2018, the spokesperson of Great Wall Motor signed Ronaldo and Dongfeng Nissan as the designated cars during the CCTV-5 World Cup.
This year, about 1,500 Yutong buses served the World Cup.
In this regard, in the eyes of industry insiders, the presence of car companies in the World Cup is not only for marketing, but also can imprint sports on the brand, cater to the current young people, and can also enhance the popularity of overseas markets.
In addition, the World Cup and nostalgic concerts that have been held for many years have the same effect and can also attract the attention of middle-aged people.
Car companies compete in the World Cup: Volkswagen takes 7 teams, and Chinese car companies also sponsor 1 team
The World Cup sponsorship system is divided into three levels: FIFA Partners (FIFA Partners), World Cup Sponsors (FIFA World Cup Sponsors), and Regional Supporters (FIFA Regional Supporters), which correspond to top-level, second-level and third-level sponsorship rights respectively. The higher the tier, the higher the fee and the higher the benefits.
According to official information, there are 7 FIFA Partners for this World Cup, among which Hyundai Motor is the only car manufacturer.
According to previous media reports, the cost of World Cup partners is about 150 million US dollars per year.
In this World Cup, Hyundai sponsored the South Korean and Croatian teams.
Hyundai also provided 446 passenger and recreational vehicles (RVs), 170 commercial vehicles, and a total of 616 official vehicles for all players, VIPs, match officials and media.
It is worth mentioning that these models are all new energy models, mainly including the pure electric vehicle IONIQ (Aini Krypton) 5, Genesis GV70 pure electric version, Santa Fe hybrid vehicle (Shengda hybrid version) and hydrogen This is also the first time that the official car for the World Cup has been put into an environmentally friendly model.
In addition, Volkswagen is the car company that sponsors the largest number of shortlisted teams in this World Cup. There are 7 teams sponsored, not only the last World Cup champion France team, but also the Netherlands, Germany, Uruguay, Switzerland, the United States, Australia team.
According to statistics, this kind of wide-spread sponsorship has increased the probability of the Volkswagen team winning the championship to 21.7%.
In addition, SAIC MG (MG) sponsored the Welsh team.
What has attracted much attention is that MG is a century-old British sports car brand. It was acquired by Nanjing Automobile Group Co., Ltd. in 2005 and acquired by SAIC in 2007. It has extensive influence in the UK.
It is reported that MG once sponsored the Welsh League Cup and officially became the official partner of the Welsh team in 2019.
In addition, GAC Mitsubishi is the sponsor of the Argentine national football team in China.
Yutong Bus and King Long Automobile will provide service vehicles during the World Cup.
Toyota unexpectedly did not sponsor the Japanese team, but chose hosts Qatar and Canada.
Sponsoring Qatar naturally does not lack exposure, and Canada is one of Toyota's most important overseas markets. In 2021, Toyota's sales in Canada will be about 199,000, second only to Ford.
While Fiat sponsored Brazil, BMW chose Belgium.
In addition, some Chinese car companies choose to hold their own activities to catch the enthusiasm of the World Cup.
Wuling Motors adopted the method of lottery to give away cars. If the final score of any game is 5:0, 50 Wuling Hongguang MINIEVs will be given away. The official lottery will be drawn through live broadcast.
Based on this calculation, every time there is a 5-0 match, Wuling Motors needs to give away a car worth about 1.5 million yuan.
Why do you like the World Cup? Attract middle-aged and young people, increase brand awareness and sales
So, why do car companies favor the World Cup so much?
In this regard, industry insiders analyzed that the World Cup has extremely high marketing value for a car company that has a presence in the global market. After taking advantage of the World Cup, it can enhance the brand's global influence, thereby promoting its market share and revenue. improve.
Qi Haishen, president of Beijing Teyi Sunshine New Energy, analyzed and pointed out that sponsorship of the World Cup and popular sports events by car companies has been a common marketing tool for many years.
Sports events have a wide audience, especially for global events such as the World Cup. Not only fans, but even those who don’t understand football will be attracted by the atmosphere. Sponsorship by car companies can help enhance the brand image.
He believes that my country's auto companies generally have transformation needs, one is the transformation of low-end and mid-range cars to high-end and luxury models, and the other is the accelerated transformation of fuel vehicles to new energy vehicles and intelligent networked vehicles.
Among these two transformation needs, middle-aged people with purchasing power and young people who love sports and high technology have become the main audiences.
"Nowadays, new energy vehicles not only accelerate from 100 kilometers far faster than fuel vehicles, but also superimpose various high-tech means, and the car has become a 'big toy' that can be connected to the Internet and has wheels." Qi Haishen said that this is why car companies frequently communicate with The reason why sports and games are linked.
The reporter noticed that as early as 1999, Hyundai Motor cooperated with FIFA for the first time and became the official sponsor of FIFA with a bid of 1.5 billion euros.
Subsequently, Hyundai Motor gained a lot.
Statistics show that after the World Cup in Korea and Japan in 2002, its sales in the US market soared by 40%, and its brand awareness jumped from 32% to 67%.
The huge sponsorship fee has indeed brought Hyundai Motor brand awareness and sales promotion.
In addition, the World Cup’s power to communicate with car brands has been gradually released over a long period of time. The reason is that cars are high-priced consumer goods that are heavy on decision-making, unlike Nike, Adidas and other brands that have the attribute of impulsive consumption. The advertising effect Can be quickly reflected in sales.
Opinion/ Don't be superstitious about the effect of the World Cup
"Sponsoring the World Cup is to take advantage of the situation and increase the brand influence of enterprises on a global scale, but the huge sponsorship must not be simply regarded as a gimmick for global marketing and market hype." Economist, Vice President of China Business Economics Association Chang Song Xiangqing believes that overseas markets are complex in many aspects such as countries, ethnic groups, systems, living habits and cultures. For Chinese companies with low international brand recognition, they must first make products and services well, To do a good job in channels and platforms, laying a solid foundation is the first priority. Taking advantage of the world's top events is to take advantage of the trend under the premise of doing a good job in basic skills, and we must not put the cart before the horse.
In addition, some industry insiders pointed out to the Red Star Capital Bureau, "Car companies sponsor the World Cup to value global influence, and the marketing effect still has to fall on the hard power of car companies. Chinese car companies cannot be superstitious about the effect of the World Cup. At present, most Chinese car companies still mainly focus on the domestic market, so it is enough to choose to become a regional sponsor at most, and it is a good choice to hold activities on their own to catch the heat.”
Chengdu Commercial Daily-Red Star News reporter Wu Danruo comprehensive daily economic news, Xiaoxiang Morning News, International Financial News, etc.