Audi kicks off huge sponsorship campaign for International Champions Cup partnership
Audi has kicked off a large activation in Melbourne to leverage its sponsorship of the International Champions Cup tournament featuring some of the world’s top football teams.
Real Madrid star Gareth Bale entering the stadium
The new campaign centres around the Melbourne Cricket Ground where the tournament is being staged and includes large format out of home, transit and digital, stadium activations, broadcast integration and a social media response lab.
As well as outdoor advertising around the stadium the German carmaker is hosting a fan zone for 400 VIP guests at every match of the competition, which features Real Madrid, Roma and Manchester City, and has demonstrator cars and activations around the ground.
Driven by STW agency Tongue it has been supported by Audi’s roster of agencies including 303Lowe, Mediacom, Holler, Edelman Worldwide and Max Media Lab, while Catalyst Media, Nine Live and Tourism Victoria have all been involved in the integration.
John Du Vernet, managing partner of Tongue said: “It’s never easy aligning commercial objectives with those of tourism organisations, broadcasters and various stakeholders, but this program proves it’s possible. I can’t wait to see our ideas and months of effort come to fruition and truly get people talking about Audi.”
Saturday’s match between Roma and Real Madrid attracted a crowd of 80,000 to the MCG, with many fans making the trip from interstate.
As part of the promotion Audi has flown in a new R8 to sit pitch side, although the model does not go on sale in Australia until next year.
The in-stadium integrations include an digital version of the R8 doing a ‘hot lap’ around the billboards skirting the stadium, while it has also branded a specially created entrance for the designated ‘home team’ for each match to mimic experiences European fans get when attending games.
Sports sponsorships and fan engagement will be discussed at the upcoming Mumbrella Sports Marketing Summit on September 9 at the MCG.
