Toyo Tire & Rubber Co, the Japanese tire company, announced yesterday that they were to support AC Milan as a Premium Sponsor for the 2014-2015 Serie A, the Italian professional football league, which kicked off over the weekend. The company will begin a series of branding initiatives to capitalise on the sponsorship by “Aggressively utilising” content featuring AC Milan in its advertising material. It will also be developing and launching a collection of original novelty items for its customers, and producing bespoke video content highlighting the team's top players. The company also launched its first ever social networking service back in June (in the form of a batch of Facebook pages catered to individual global markets), as well as an “On and Off the Field” Tumblr page, which will include up-to-date match results and general activities at the club.
Toyo Tire & Rubber Co announced yesterday that they were to support AC Milan as a Premium Sponsor for the 2014-2015 Serie A, which kicked off over the weekend
AC Milan are amongst the most beloved football teams in Europe and boast an enthusiastic global following, so it comes as no surprise that Toyo would single them out as sponsorship partners. The deal was signed back in April, and marked Toyo as the first Japanese company to ever sign a Premium Sponsorship agreement with the club.
Toyo sees the team as an important source of branding content for the company, particularly in regards to the ongoing expansion of their ever-expanding international prestige in global markets including the EU, growth markets like Russia and the Middle East, China and Southeast Asia, which have been positioned by the company as critical markets, as well as in Japan. This recent announcement arrives at a time when the company's management is shifting gears into a stage of planned growth and is significantly bolstering its global business foundation, with a focus on production and sales of its core product (tires, as one would naturally expect).
Toyo are recruiting 11 “Toyo Tires Reporters” to attend and report on the Milan Derby against Inter Milan, which takes place on the 23rd of November
The 2014-2015 season will be Toyo Tires' first full season with AC Milan since concluding the partnership, and the company will unveil a number of activities showcasing the football powerhouse. Their first activity as a Premium Sponsor was a drawing campaign that saw 100 winners receive limited edition AC Milan smartphone covers. They are now also recruiting 11 “Toyo Tires Reporters” to attend and report on the Milan Derby against Inter Milan, which takes place on the 23rd of November and as a highly competitive derby, will attract lots of intention both in Italy and across the globe. Another currently scheduled high-profile sponsorship activity that should bring the brand plenty of recognition is the team's December 14th match with Napoli, which will be featured under the “Toyo Tires Presents” banner. This means the brand will be on full display at the team's San Silo Stadium throughout match day.
Benjamin Hiorns is a freelance writer, musician and Manchester United supporter from Kidderminster in the UK.
