Sport is always good, including for BKT. The multinational Group is taking stock after two years investing in French football and is analyzing the results.
From a survey by a CSA Research panel, it emerges that BKT has recorded brand awareness of 17% among football fans, after just two years title sponsorship of the Coupe de la Ligue BKT. An excellent result for a B2B company such as BKT, which is the leading manufacturer of Off-Highway tires - and the first Indian company to invest in French football.
The awareness is driven mainly by television coverage (42% of the visibility is linked to TV, the leading media) and increasingly TV advertising (+6 points compared to 2019, the second media). Among people interested in the Coupe de la Ligue BKT, the association between the brand and the competition gained fully 10 points between 2019 and 2020, reaching 22%.
All this data represents an excellent basis for BKT in the move to Ligue 2, which the company took over Title Sponsorship of in July 2020, an agreement that will last until June 2024. Ligue 2 BKT is really promising ground for BKT because it makes it possible to reach a huge audience of active fans: 66% of fans interested in Ligue 2 BKT actively follow the competition and 51% go regularly to the stadium.
Just before the start of the Ligue 2 championship, BKT had already obtained a 5% association between the brand and the competition. A result which is an early promise of positive developments.
“We are very satisfied with this experience which has enabled us to stand out from the crowd. There is no doubt that the increase in brand awareness has helped us increase the sales of our products in France. We have benefitted greatly from this,” states Lucia Salmaso, CEO of BKT Europe. “Nonetheless, we are only two years into our six-year partnership with the Ligue de Football Professionel (LFP) and we consider this period as a test. We are ready for the adventure with Ligue 2 BKT over the next four years and I am convinced that it will go even better because these strategies take time to produce results.”
The Covid-19 emergency has not impacted on the passion for football in France, enabling sponsors to reach and involve a vast public. The survey shows that sport remains one of the great passions for French people and football is the most popular among the various disciplines. All this confirms the strategic choice made by BKT, which shows it has found the ideal instrument to come into direct contact with its users and potential customers by sharing strong emotions.
“Ligue 2 has been chosen because it allows us to reach all the provinces, the local areas where we can get much closer to our end users: farmers,” Lucia Salmaso goes on. “In addition, Ligue 2 is built around its regularity with a high number of scheduled games, and around the passion and bond with the local territory. We love this strategy, the same we used when we selected the title sponsorship of the Serie BKT in Italy. The two championships are very similar.”
Finally, among the most important considerations regarding Ligue 2 BKT, the survey reveals fans' interest in the chance, through this championship, of seeing tomorrow's young talent in action, a focus which coincides exactly with BKT's goals:
“I know that we made an unusual choice, even more so given that we are a B2B brand” concludes Lucia Salmaso “but we like the idea of supporting the development of sport and the ‘second-tier leagues' which we believe are genuine incubators for the great champions. Support is also needed at this level of sport. We want everyone to remember our name because we are engaged in developing talents. Especially at a time like this when sport needs support.”
