The team at Hyundai Motor America have scored quite the interception as of late – it’s taken General Motors’ place as the official automobile sponsor of the National Football League.
Per a report from Mediapost, Hyundai has signed on as the official sponsor of the league, giving it full use of NFL trademarks across its varied marketing channels, including branded content, advertising and promotional materials. There’s no word on just how much Hyundai is spending on the deal, but General Motors paid $25 million per year as part of its deal, so a similar figure is likely.
With this deal, Hyundai will keep track of the League over the course of the year – even after the Super Bowl – with extensive activity that also includes the NFL Combine, the NFL Draft and the NFL Kickoff party to begin the forthcoming season. Promotional vehicles will also be introduced at a number of NFL-based events, including the Super Bowl.
“Sports has worked well for us,” said Dave Zukowski, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor America about the deal. “This gives us the ability to do a lot of things all year. It means we have a broad plan, with branded content and promotional materials.”
The company will also take advantage of the huge Super Bowl event with a number of activities and promotions, since it gets so much attention from millions of viewers every year, despite who’s playing. However, it’s paying attention to smaller opportunities as well, according to Zukowski. “That is one thing we have learned from our NCAA partnership. It’s about engaging dealers and local markets that are football crazy.”
Zukowski also expects social media to play a big part in promotions, especially with NFL-based branding. “Those numbers are huge; broadly, we have our team and agency working with the NFL to flesh out some of the unique ways to go to market with this that give us the right look and feel, and access to different audiences,” he said.
Hyundai’s promotional push will officially start with the NFL Kickoff on September 10th, which should have an outreach of over 188 million fans of the football league.
However, that isn’t stopping it from focusing on pro football – it’s signed a deal to continue being a key sponsor with the NCAA college football league as well. “The big picture it helps us gain consideration, awareness and familiarity,” said Zukowski. “We have grown dramatically over the last five or six years, but the gap still remains between us and key Japanese and domestic competitors. Next February, we are 30 years old in this market, but the Japanese brands are 50 and domestics are 100. This accelerates our opportunity to close that gap.”
So heads up, football fans. Hyundai is ready to play ball.
