When in 1995
Continental began cooperation with the UEFA Champions League, it was rather new for a tire maker to sponsor a football championship rather than automotive sport series. Not so today – grand and rising manufacturers have abandoned club and series sponsorship, and explain to fans it with different levels of success. Football sponsorship has become popular among tire manufacturers, and maybe because of that, Continental decided to join the party. The company started full engagement with football, and begins a new global campaign, starting this February, that jumps in with its ‘Vision Zero’ ambitions.
Looking back on 21 years as an official sponsor of the world's six most popular football tournaments - the 2006 FIFA, the 2010 and 2014 World Cups and UEFA EURO 2008, 2012 and 2016 events - and the UEFA Champions League from 1995 to 2000, Continental is said that football sponsorship proved "a very effective way to" raise the visibility of Continental Tire brand in most European markets. Head of the Tire Division Nikolai Setzer sees "a long-term positive effect" arising from sponsorship deals, which were originally established by Continental apart from many of its competitors. "This has created a powerful impetus to the brand awareness in our core European markets," he commented.
Nevertheless, some say that to be a winner, you have to know when to quit: "When the EURO 2016 event drew to an end, we achieved the goals brand recognition we have set for the communications platform that football provided," says Tyre head of the department. "The level of recognition we have achieved means that we can now take the next logical strategic step on our premium tire brand in Europe."
Setzer explains that the new target positioning Continental is based on his "ten-year emphasis on safety, providing the shortest possible stopping distance" and is designed to bring together in the long term Vision Zero - a vision of zero fatal accidents, zero injuries and zero accidents. "However, our chassis and safety division, we aim to highlight the contribution to greater road safety that advanced driver assistance systems such as ESC, AEB and motorcycle ABS done in conjunction with premium tires - the contribution we are working to move forward every day , "he clarifies against this background, Continental is considered the motto of a new marketing campaign -." Mobility is enhanced by German technology "- to be the obvious choice.
"We are convinced that this is the logical aim of positioning for Continental, as no other tire manufacturer and automotive supplier in the world does not command this unique combination of automotive tire technology and the competence of" Setzer state. "That's why our premium Continental brand today stands for maximum security, conducted on the roads, and we aim to further strengthen this position in the future. Looking ahead, the German experience in terms of tire technology and automotive technology is at the heart of not only our daily effort development, but also our marketing and communication activities. "
The new pan-European campaign will be broadcast on television and appeared in the print media, in shops and on the Internet. Continental also plans to use various channels of social media to engage in dialogue with the drivers and other users in order to explain the benefits of mobility solutions it has to offer. "As well as creating a more modern and vital presence, we have developed a campaign we have seen to generate more flexibility than in the past," says Silke Gliemann, head of marketing communications in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) Region "This is reflected, for example, in a more varied selection of images that we use to illustrate a number of different topics, which helps to set us clearly apart from the competition in the replacement sector."
The new campaign was developed in conjunction with Serviceplan Campaign International GmbH & Co. KG in Hamburg, Germany, and will be gradually rolled out across Europe. Production of television commercials was treated Markenfilm GmbH & Co. KG, also based in Hamburg. In terms of content strategy as a new campaign and website www.VisionZeroWorld.com Continental aligned with Vision Zero. The total offer will include a wide range of multimedia content, which deals with how to improve road safety through the use of accident prevention technologies. One focus of the constant coverage Continental will participate as an automotive supplier and the exclusive tire partner to the Global NCAP on 'Stop crash' campaign, which aims to spread the word about these very technologies for the prevention of accidents, especially in highly populated emerging economies. Continental sates that will stop the collapse of the "perfectly aligned with the positioning of his future destination."