The 2006 FIFA World Cup™ was a roaring success. International Football Association, FIFA, and German FIFA World Cup™ Organising Committee organisers basked in unanimous praise at the concluding press conference in Berlin. Continental AG, one of FIFA’s 15 main sponsors, also expressed deep satisfaction with their investment in the football festival that attracts the greatest worldwide attention of all sporting events. “We made very good progress with regard to the degree of familiarity and the image of our brand. In some countries we achieved a growth rate between 10 and 18 percent at the backed awareness”, disclosed Manfred Wennemer, Chairman of the Board of Continental, before the conclusion of the 64 FIFA World Cup™ matches.

The 2006 FIFA World Cup™ brought a remarkable result for the renowned worldwide tyre manufacturers from Germany: Continental is involved with all four teams which reached the final and match for third place. The French national squad is the only one of the 32 FIFA World Cup™ participants with whom Continental holds a marketing partnership contract. Italy, the new FIFA World Cup™ champions, were the only team that used a bus equipped with the Conti tyres HSL 1 – especially created for the FIFA World Cup™ and imprinted with stylised footballs and the company logo. Timo Hildebrand, the third German goalkeeper, is a brand ambassador for Continental AG, as is goalkeeper Ricardo of Portugal.

But even more important than this welcome aspect is the very positive general assessment of the activities prior to and during the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. “The results are outstanding. In order to achieve comparable results you would need many years of other endeavours”, says Alexander Luehrs, head of the PR department for tyres. The response of trading and business partners, as well as consumers, was excellent. “With this exclusive partnership with FIFA we have been able to clearly distinguish ourselves from our market competitors”, Alexander Luehrs stated. Anyone interested can obtain tickets for Formula 1 races, but tickets for the FIFA World Cup™ were so much in demand that Continental used them specifically for promotion purposes and to improve business relations. Board advertising was additionally at the centre of attraction at all FIFA World Cup™ matches. The company’s name, the logo and a tyre on eye-catching orange conveyed the sporting character of Continental to a worldwide audience of billions.

Continental had available more than 20,000 tickets for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™. More than half went to buyers of their products. Approximately 5,000 were distributed as a promotion exercise in conjunction with Shell to football fans in Germany, Poland, Netherlands, Italy, France, England and the Czech Republic. More than 5,000 further tickets went to spectators involved in activities organised by Continental in co-operation with ADAC, Sixt, the German magazine Stern, the German sports newspaper Sport-Bild and the Pay TV Channel Premiere. Visitors to the Continental stands at the Automobile Exhibition in Geneva and the International Automobile Exhibition, IAA, in Frankfurt/Main also received FIFA World Cup™ tickets. Other sought-after tickets could be obtained via an online public opinion poll on the popular Internet site www.contisoccerworld.de packed with up-to-date football news -- yet another example of successful FIFA World Cup™ sponsorship.

“We also achieved an incredibly strong response from invitations offering hospitality”, added Alexander Luehrs. A total of 6,000 dealers and business partners from specialist tyre and car dealers, as well as guests of honour, were invited to the exclusive VIP area at matches in seven FIFA World Cup™ stadiums, including Hanover, home of the company’s headquarters. Thirty eight comfortable travel coaches with the Continental design and HSL 1 tyres were used for transporting the guests to the stadiums and back. The atmosphere at the swimming area on Lake Maschsee in Hanover, where the matches were shown live on a large screen, was less lavish. Continental welcomed altogether 15,000 guests to this private viewing.

An award by experts proved how successful the company had been with regard to promotions and marketing. The big advertising campaign recommending Conti Tyres, highlighted when corners were taken at all FIFA World Cup™ stadiums, received the renowned Neptun Crossmedia Award. During the halftime breaks, crowds were fascinated by another Continental advertising spot flashed on to the video walls. Timo Hildebrand highlighted the strong tread on his gloves when he parried difficult shots.

Continental will continue this successful engagement with football. Even before the 2006 FIFA World Cup™, the company signed a partnership contract with the European Football Association, UEFA, which includes the UEFA European Football Championship™ in Austria and Switzerland in 2008.