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Continental AG has Reached its Most Important Targets and is Now Looking Forward to the 2010 FIFA World Cup 2010(TM) in South Africa
The international automobile industry supplier and premium tire manufacturer was host to more than 1,700 customers and representatives from the media in Austria and Switzerland at driving events during UEFA EURO 2008(TM), who were impressed by the broad range of Continental products available for use in automobiles for today and tomorrow.
After UEFA EURO 2008(TM) is before the 2010 FIFA World Cup(TM): Just a few weeks after the end of the European football championship in Austria and Switzerland, Continental AG has already begun first preparations for the 2010 FIFA World Cup(TM) in about two years time in South Africa. “After this excellently mastered challenge and such an inspiring event we are directing our attention simultaneously to intensive analysis of all data surrounding the European football championship and are looking to the future again,” stated Dr. Alan Hippe, the man on the Continental board of directors responsible for the Passenger Car Tires Division.
Continental AG definitely reached its most important goals for sponsoring of UEFA EURO 2008(TM). “Even though it is going to take a few weeks to get all of the relevant numbers and facts on the table it is already possible today to state that: The increase in the degree to which we are known in the industry and further emotionalisation of premium brands from Continental were just as successful as integration of the event into business relationships - in particular with specialist tire dealers,” stressed Dr. Hippe.
“In our most important markets such as Italy, Russia, Poland, and naturally also in our domestic market of Germany, we succeeded both in achieving highly conspicuous perimeter advertising on the edge of the playing field but also of directing attention to our premium brands with the aid of TV presentings,” stated Dr. Hippe. “A total of more than eight billion TV viewers at the transmissions on the screen are expected. The TV ratings from the Quarter Final stage reached as high as over 80 percent. We are also firmly of the opinion that we were able to increase our presence in the industry in the most important non-European growth regions such as in South America and Asia.” Furthermore, Continental was also present as an Official Sponsor on the official championship website www.euro2008.com which has seen over 1.3 billion hits since February 2008 which made it, head and shoulders above the rest, the most visited sport internet site ever.
Hippe also referred to the fact that Continental was able to greet and host about 3,500 customers and representatives from the media as hospitality guests during the three week event. More than 1,700 of them used the opportunity at the driving events of the ContiSafetyExperience at the driving safety centre of ÖAMTC in Teesdorf near Vienna and TCS in Betzholz near Zurich to “experience” Continental top technologies for automobiles for today and tomorrow in the purest sense of the word and thereby to have the opportunity to question the roughly 80 vehicle attendants and experts about the products.
“We consistently integrated sponsoring - like we did already for the 2006 FIFA World Cup(TM) - into all modules of our product communication and in our accompanying measures during the championship and have thereby consistently and continuously continued with our brand presence,” explained the project manager Michael Kohl. From transporting guests over arranging the hotel lounges, at the ContiSafetyExperience as well as in the hospitality areas in Vienna and Salzburg, as well as in Bern and Basel, right through to appearances in the eight fan zones - such a high brand recognition for the brand presence was achieved.
“At the ContiSafetyExperience it was very important for us to have the combination of tire safety topics like wet braking from 80 km/h to a full stop with profile depths of 8, 3 and 1.6 millimeters or a braking attempt from 30 km/h with focus on the matching of concept tires to the Electronic Stability Controlling (ESC), with future technologies such as the Intelligent Tire System (ITS), Lane Departure Warning (LDW), hybrid drive, Car-to-Car communication solutions or air suspension systems for off-road vehicles,” said Ralf Hoffmann, Continental Brand Manager for the passenger car replacement tire business in Europe and project manager for the ContiSafetyExperience.
Continental was also present with its own presence in the eight fan zones of the sports event sites which, according to information from UEFA, were visited by more than four million football fans. The company also engaged in Germany as the sponsor of 14 public viewing events at selected universities. Furthermore, the football portal www.ContiSoccerWorld.com with more than one million unique users in June as well as the online game platform www.ContiFanWorld.com have been established as an attractive building block in the communication mix.
The multimedia DVD “Our road to Vienna”, which was offered to the media representatives in the eight media centres at UEFA EURO 2008(TM), is currently being completely reworked in order to be in a position by the beginning of September to offer complete documentation with videos, announcements and pictures of the whole activities. “That is - if one so will - our balance from the mountain tour 2008,” said Dr. Hippe, who will also personally intensively involve himself in preparations for the world football championship. “We now have the leading market position in the South African replacement tire business with a market share using locally produced tires of more than 20 percent. In Port Elizabeth, South Africa, Continental has a works for passenger car tires where about 2.6 million tires were produced in 2007 by a total of 1,600 employees and were sold both in the OEM business sector and in the replacement tire business sector,” stated Dr. Hippe. Furthermore Continental, with its works for commercial vehicle tires - also in Port Elizabeth - serves the demand south of the Sahara and thus also that in the sports events sites country for the 2010 FIFA Football World Cup(TM).
With annual sales of more than EUR25 billion (based on 2006 figures), the Continental Corporation is one of the top five automotive suppliers worldwide. As a supplier of tires, brake systems, powertrain and chassis systems and components, instrumentation, infotainment solutions, vehicle electronics and technical elastomers, the Corporation contributes to enhanced driving safety and global climate protection. Continental is also a competent partner in networked automobile communication. The corporation currently employs approximately 150,000 people at more than 200 locations in 36 countries.
Continental’s tire divisions are an official sponsor of the 2010 FIFA World Cup(TM) in South Africa. For more information, check out http://www.ContiSoccerWorld.com, http://www.ContiFanWorld.com and
Source: Continental AG
