Yokohama Leverage Chelsea Shirt Deal To Launch Multi-Market Brand & Sales ‘Drive For More’ Campaign

In the first quarter of 2018, Japanese tyre giant Yokohama leveraged its shirt sponsorship with Chelsea FC through a global brand and sales campaign which set out to showcase the synergies between the brand and club called ‘Drive For More’

Territory: International (Primary: India, Malaysia, Vietnam, France and Iberia)

Agency: Pitch Marketing Group

Objectives

Since singing its principal partnership with Chelsea in 2015, Yokohama had used the tie-up to stand out in a competitive market place and steadily, successfully grown its awareness amongst football fans around the world. So in 2018 it set out to utilise this mass awareness in order to increase brand affinity and sales through a global brand – B2B and B2C – campaign called ‘Drive for More’.

The aim was to help deliver existing and new retail partner sales as well as engaging international fans of the club.

Activation

The campaign revolved around communicating just why Chelsea and Yokohama are a perfect alliance and related to Chelsea’s club philosophy, Yokohama’s approach to business and a mantra that was a motivational for employees, retailers and consumers.

That mantra was the company’s dedication to Kaizen; the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement.

The campaign spanned both B2B and B2C strands and ran across the Japanese tyre company’s five key overseas markets: India, Malaysia, Vietnam, France and Iberia.

Chelsea FC legend and ambassador Didier Drogba was the face of the B2B strand of campaign and participated in a series of B2B VIP events in each territory which offered local customers the opportunity to meet with the icon.

The campaign was delivered through a series of B2C point-of-sale initiatives including premium club-focused marketing materials and rewards and these assets were available for tyre-dealers in each local market to incentivise sales.

The B2C campaign strand was launched in Spring 2018 through an international content series that told the story of what gave Chelsea’s players a ‘Drive for More’ in a 10-episode series amplified across the tyre brand’s channels and which came in both English and Japanese versions.

The campaign was sufficiently successful for the sponsor and club to run a parallel version in Spring 2019.

The campaign was executed through the entire sales funnel; measurably increasing awareness in key markets (India, Malaysia, Vietnam), broadening the scope of retailers in which products were sold, acting as an incentive for retailers to purchase more tyres and using the power of the Chelsea brand to convert consumers at point of sale.

The activation culminated in a ‘Drive for More’ Global sales promotion incorporating consumer, VIP and PR events in 6 priority markets.

Outcome

Neither agency nor brand will reveal specific numbers, only that the campaign directly attributed to a significant rise in tyre sales.