Mid August sees Bayern Munich extend its corporate alliance with Qatar’s Hamad International Airport (HIA) with a logo-led shirt sleeve sponsorship that also includes a player-fronted airport arrival film and a new pop-up shot.
The team’s first ever sleeve sponsorship sees the Bundesliga champions and HIA extends their commercial partnership for a further six years.
Following a brief dual language teaser phase on Twitter,
Stay tuned for our latest updates with FC Bayern München#HIAFCBayern2017 pic.twitter.com/7LaV8z6lFj
— Hamad Int'l Airport (@HIAQatar) August 13, 2017
ترقبونا غداً آخر تطورات الشراكة بين فريق بايرن ميونخ الألماني ومطار حمد الدولي #HIAFCBayern2017 pic.twitter.com/6u9PwPY6gn
— Hamad Int'l Airport (@HIAQatar) August 13, 2017
HIA and Bayern announced the deal on 14 August at a partnership launch event and press conference in the airport terminal – beside its famous ‘Lamp Bear’.
“Starting this season, our players will feature the @HIAQatar logo on the jersey’s sleeves" –@FCBayern Executive Board Member, Andreas Jung pic.twitter.com/68NHLX24iB
— Hamad Int'l Airport (@HIAQatar) August 14, 2017
"إننا مسرورون بوضع شعار @HIAQatar على قميص الفريق الألماني" المهندس بدر المير، الرئيس التنفيذي للعمليات #HIAFCBayern2017 pic.twitter.com/ZePgY0U57j
— Hamad Int'l Airport (@HIAQatar) August 14, 2017
At the launch also debuted the latest Bayern/HIA promotional video showcasing the airport’s facilities and services (as experienced first-hand by several FC Bayern stars).
This film, which stars Arjen Robben and Robert Lewandowski, will be played in the airport and on board Qatar Airway’s flights and is being amplified across the airport’s social platforms such as Twitter,
Sit back, relax and enjoy our new landing video #HIAFCBayern2017
الفلم الترويجي لمطار حمد الدولي وفريق بايرن ميونخ @fcbayern ، مشاهدة ممتعة pic.twitter.com/kjO4GwfS1e— Hamad Int'l Airport (@HIAQatar) August 14, 2017
and Instagram.
The alliance includes a new FC Bayern Munich pop-up shop in the airport’s duty free area,
FC Bayern München store now at Hamad International Airport!
متجر فريق بايرن ميونخ الآن في مطار حمد الدولي #HIAFCBayern2017 pic.twitter.com/e5maYRh8ff
— Hamad Int'l Airport (@HIAQatar) August 14, 2017
The deal kicks-off with the start of the 2017/18 Bundesliga season and sees Bayern become the latest German football club to pen a sleeve partnership now that the German Football League’s (DFL) regulations allow such sponsorship.
Previously, logistics brand Hermes has been a league-wide, centralised partnership that saw its logo adorn every Bundesliga club shirt sleeve, but clubs are now able to sign their own deals individually.
“The strengthening of this fantastic sponsorship between Qatar’s award-winning airport and FC Bayern München truly demonstrates the State of Qatar’s role as a global leader in sports,” said Qatar Airways Group CEO Akbar Al Baker at the launch event press conference.
“The HIA-Qatar logo on the sleeve of every FC Bayern München jersey helps display the importance that we as a nation place on sports as a means of bringing people together,” he said
While Bayern board member Andreas Jung added: “Starting this season, our players will feature the HIA-logo on the jersey’s sleeves. When we signed the contract with Hamad International Airport in January 2016, the sponsor’s badge on the sleeve was already part of our agreement. So far the HIA-logo has already been placed on the training uniforms.”
Al Meer, said: “HIA-Qatar’s growing and successful partnership with FC Bayern München opens up new and exciting avenues for this collaboration,’ continuance Airport COO Badr al Meer.
“We are rightly delighted to have our five-star airport’s logo on Germany’s most-winning team’s jersey. FC Bayern München are Germany’s sporting superstars, so it’s only right that they should be in partnership with the Middle East’s five-star airport, as we are both at the top of our game and both look forward to staying in the premiere league.”
Comment:
It was back in early in 2016 that the airport first became a Bayern platinum partner in a deal that included giving HIA a strong brand presence inside Bayern’s home Allianz Arena ground.
Since that deal, other elements of the partnership include some fairly low profile activations such as a February in-aiport stunt that saw the FC Bayern Munich Mascot Berni participate in the Qatar National Sport Day at Hamad International Airport,
while earlier in January 2017 Qatar hosted FC Bayern Munich in Doha for a nine-day team winter training camp at Qatar’s Aspire Academy.
This new sleeve sponsorship deal, just like the recent Liverpool FC tie-up with Western Union
demonstrates the global reach and international commercial alliances developed by the major European football clubs.
Something that stands in contrast with the new NBA season’s first-ever jersey patch partnerships in the USA which are almost all tie-ups with American brands that have local connections and synergies with each hoops franchise (see our case studies of the recent Cavaliers/Goodyear, Magic/Disney and Bucks/Harley sponsorships).
Other recent significant Bayern sponsorships include a major alliance with Siemens,
and its pre-season tour partnerships with DHL
and Lufthansa.
Bayern Munich won their fifth consecutive Bundesliga title and their 27th in total in 2016/17. They start their 2017/18 campaign with a home fixture against Bayer 04 Leverkusen on 18th August.
Links:
HIA Qatar
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFJQA_hmLSMvFR7MBvBN_8A
https://www.facebook.com/HIAQatar
https://www.instagram.com/HIAQatar/
Bayern Munich:
https://www.youtube.com/user/fcbayern
https://www.instagram.com/fcbayern/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUO90z_DvI1/?taken-by=fcbayern
https://www.facebook.com/fcbayern
https://fcbayern.com/fcbayerntv/de#category=all
