Winning at brand awareness.

If you’re like me you’ll be loving the wall to wall football on our screens during #Euro2024 over the next 4 weeks. As a sports fan working in marketing I always find it interesting to see which brands are engaging with major sporting events as a tried and tested tactic for raising awareness, gaining exposure and building familiarity.

If you were watching Euro 2024 at the weekend you couldn’t help but notice a strong presence from auto brand BYD EUROPE who are official partner for the tournament (and a brand We Are Acuity are proud to have as a client in the UK😊). With over 500,000 employees worldwide and 3 million+ global sales in 2023, BYD are an established powerhouse. They’re one of a number of Chinese auto brands building their presence in Europe and see sponsoring this summers premier football tournament as the ideal opportunity to get in front of the right audience. As well as the expected TV idents, social content, retailer programmes and pitch side hoardings, they’re also activating at games, showcasing their electric vehicles and providing green mobility solutions across different venues, demonstrating the brand’s commitment to greener and more intelligent mobility solutions to thousands of football enthusiasts.

BYD follow in a long line of auto brands increasing their exposure and broadening their appeal by partnering with sporting events. I’ve been fortunate enough to be involved in a few of them myself.

Back in 2012 when BMW Group were the lead automotive partner for the London Olympics. Working agency side at the time gave me a great insight into the scale of the partnership opportunities available to the brand, from national comms activity through to local dealer engagement, the detail and planning of Olympic torch relay and content production with the athletes themselves. Changing sports, BMWs ongoing support of PGA Championship Golf is now a permanent fixture on the UK sporting calendar and a day out at Wentworth is hard to beat if you’re a golf fan. Volvo Cars, Porsche AG and Mercedes-Benz AG all have skin in the golf game too.

The chance to work with Team GB came around again a few years later, when working client side at Nissan Motors GB. We partnered for the 2014 winter games in Sochi and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic games in Rio. Sadly, no trip to Rio for me on that occasion. Closer to home and again football related, we became automotive partner of Manchester City Football Club and the UEFA Champions League. Large scale, high visibility sponsorships and partnerships were a fundamental part of the brand marketing plan.

For me, sport continues to be a great way for brands to build awareness, but there's a whole host of ways awareness can be achieved. If you work in brand or local marketing and feel your awareness activity needs a boost, why not schedule a FREE 30-minute assessment today here? It will be well worth your time.

#marketing #sponsorships #partnerships