“Sponsorship presence is vital to us”

Nikolai Setzer, head of Continental’s Passenger & Light Truck Tire Division, on the company’s sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup 2010^TM in South Africa and the similarities between tires and football.

ContiSoccerWorld: Mr Setzer, Continental is once again part of the small group of official FIFA sponsors, this time for the World Cup 2010^TM in South Africa. Could you explain the reasons behind your company’s decision to become so heavily involved in World Cups and European Championships, not to mention the Confederations Cup 2009?

Nikolai Setzer: The main objective of such a huge marketing activity is, of course, to raise brand awareness, primarily in the growth markets of Eastern Europe, Asia, North and South America,  and, of course, Africa, the continent that is home to country hosting the World Cup 2010. We have already achieved a great deal of success in South Africa with a market share of twenty per cent and a large production plant for passenger and light truck tires. I hope that the South African team reaches the furthest stage of the tournament it can. That would be a real boost for the country's morale and would be excellent news for us as a sponsor, of course. In addition, our aim is to continue to increase brand awareness in markets in which we have traditionally held a strong position, such as Western and Central Europe. Overall, our involvement with the World Cup is intended to bring emotion to the brand, helping us to retain existing customers and attract new ones.  Of course, the underlying principle of all this is that at the end of the day, we would like to sell more tires.

ContiSoccerWorld: You mention 'bringing emotion to the brand'. How does this work? Do people watching football simply see an advertisement for Conti and think to themselves, ‘great brand'?

Nikolai Setzer: In principle, you could say that. We are seen as a brand with close links to football. When people watch football at a stadium, on a public screening or at home on the television, their minds are open to positive messages, to emotions. Even if their own team loses, football fans are joined together in an emotional atmosphere; they experience an exciting event together, and in this context they perceive brand messages differently to usual. They identify more strongly with a brand that seems to empathise with their passion.  Presence at the game is vital in the world of football; both for the fans and for companies. World Cup games are the natural topic of conversation everywhere the next day. People who don’t know what happened in at the last minute are practically social outcasts (laughs).

ContiSoccerWorld: In your opinion, what are the advantages of sponsoring a World Cup in particular? Continental could also act as a sponsor in national leagues, where we could enjoy a more consistent presence rather than making an appearance once every four years: this would be every two years, for example, taking the European Championships into account. In the past, Conti has been involved in the English Premier League and been present in Sweden, France and Germany at club level.

Nikolai Setzer: That’s right: for example, we advertised on the pitch perimeter at Hannover 96 and Olympique Lyon. However, an event like a World Cup makes our marketing campaigns significantly more effective than they would be at national level. We are a company with an international presence. As our partners, FIFA and UEFA help us to focus our resources accurately from the basis of an established international platform. For us, this is much more effective in terms of overall sustainability for our activities than dividing our sponsorship between several different events. World Cup sponsorship allows us to reach a wider, more receptive public than any other event in the world. In addition to this, we still attend games at national level (the Bundesliga) together with our business partners. Only by combining these national and international activities can we achieve the necessary levels of continuity that make our marketing campaigns such an important factor in our success.

ContiSoccerWorld: What similarities are there between tires and football? Both are round, of course.

Nikolai Setzer: Oh, they’ve got a few things in common. Let’s just look at aspects such as technology and precision. Both are as essential to tires as they are to football. Tires are safety products with strict technological and road performance requirements. Without these standards, road traffic would not be able to function. The same is true on the pitch: if Messi, Ballack or Kaka were not able to handle the ball so accurately or intelligently, their teams would not be half as skilful or successful. This brings us to other important considerations such as passion and teamwork. If we did not perform our job as a team and with passion for our product, tires, we would not be able to achieve any lasting success as a company. Similarly, a football team that played without passion and team spirit would find it impossible to win a World Cup.

ContiSoccerWorld: Why does football hold such fascination for the company? Couldn’t you also sponsor motor sport, tennis or sailing?

Nikolai Setzer: People in almost every part of the world are the most fascinated by football. Everyone can play football: in twos, threes, or even in teams of eleven. You just need a ball; sometimes even a tin can will do. You don’t have to buy expensive equipment like you do for golf, or take a course like you do for sailing. Even motor sport is not as accessible as football. The World Cup is the most attention-grabbing, media effective event there is. The World Cup in Germany in 2006 attracted a total audience of over 26 billion live TV spectators. We assume that the World Cup in South Africa will attract similar numbers of viewers. And, last but not least, football is the best method of reaching our main target audience.  It is still predominantly men who buy tires, although it must be said that the number of women is increasing and more and more women watch football. They are just perfectly suited to one another.

ContiSoccerWorld: Are there people within the company who are critical of Continental's sponsoring activities which mean expenditure on events in times when it is important to save money?

Nikolai Setzer: Of course there are people who object; I don’t deny that. And they are perfectly right to examine all marketing activities objectively in these times. But when it comes to marketing commitments such as FIFA World Cup sponsorship, it is very important to take a long-term view.  You can't be involved one year, pull out the next, and then perhaps think about going back into sponsoring a few years later. We have made a long-term commitment. We started in the Champions League in 1995 and then began our World Cup and European Championship sponsorship activities in 2003, which we regard as a continuous platform for our brand image.   As a consequence of this, we have also made commitments which, of course, we intend to honour. This investment pays for itself on an ongoing, sustainable basis, otherwise we would not make it. It helps us increase our turnover. Every euro we spend brings us several more in return. In light of this, it would be a disadvantage to save money in this area.

ContiSoccerWorld: How do you measure the success of these advertising methods?

Nikolai Setzer: On the one hand, we regularly measure awareness of our brand on a quarterly basis in the most important countries, and also shortly before and after a World Cup. Our involvement in the FIFA World Cup 2006 has pushed us forward significantly in all markets, not only in terms of brand awareness, but also brand image. We are seen in a more positive light than before, which is also very important to direct customer feedback. We ask dealers at the point of sale how they view our brand and what feedback they have had in turn from end users. Feedback from this group was also very positive.

ContiSoccerWorld: Retailers play an important role in the tire industry. Many end customers’ choice of brand is influenced mainly by tire dealers. How do you involve dealers in your sponsorship activities?

Nikolai Setzer: It’s true that dealers are an important interface for us. Sales promotions at dealerships, ticket draws and giveaways of official game balls are ideal ways of building up excitement in the run-up to a tournament. It is also beneficial for dealers if they can sell products from a strong brand. If the dealer warmly recommends Continental products to a customer, who then immediately forms a positive brand image, this naturally makes the sale much easier for the dealer. Customer loyalty is extremely important to us at every level, in both sales and the original equipment market. For example, we also invite customers to games, providing some wonderful shared experiences. From my own experience, I can tell you that to this day, I still talk to some customers about games we saw at the 2006 World Cup in Germany - just think about the final between Italy and France, or the quarter final between Germany and Argentina. Anyone who was at a game like that will never forget it.

ContiSoccerWorld: Nor Germany versus Italy in the semi final, probably…

Nikolai Setzer: Well, we'd rather just forget about it all again now... (laughs). The main thing about the World Cup in Germany, though, was that nearly all the games were interesting. I can hardly remember any games that were not exciting. Hopefully it will be the same case in South Africa. People will watch all, or at least several games involving supposed outsiders, regardless of whether or not their own team is playing. That’s what is so special about the World Cup.