Targeting customers in football is difficult
BMW does not focus on football – unlike its competitors from Ingolstadt and Wolfsburg. Audi is a shareholder of FC Bayern München and Volkswagen is the sole shareholder of VfL Wolfsburg. Why is football, the number one sport in Germany, not important at BMW?
BMW is involved in many areas when it comes to sport. Football is not one of them. BMW has no reputation problem in the major European football markets. Our brand awareness is sufficient there, even without sponsorship support. Targeting potential customers in the football context is also difficult.
It’s different with golf, for example, because there aren’t as many high-level tournaments and series. These are just some of the reasons why BMW is not currently focusing on football. At the regional level, it is BMW dealers and trade groups who set the tone and know best which sponsorships are most likely to succeed at the local level. So there are a few cases of involvement in football at this level.
BMW rarely focuses on individual athletes. For what? And why is an exception made in the sport of running – with the Hahner twins, Anna and Lisa?
That’s not really the case. In addition to Anna and Lisa Hahner, several other athletes represent BMW in their respective sports, such as Magdalena Neuner (biathlon), Stefan Glowacz (outdoor) and Alessandro Zanardi (motor sport/long distance triathlon). For us, it is important that we have strong personalities in our team – personalities who live for their discipline and who inspire people, including our clients.
Take BMW brand ambassador Alex Zanardi for example: almost no other athlete is as inspiring as him. A company could hardly ask for a more credible or authentic representative. BMW prefers to use its sports brand ambassadors during the sporting events themselves and customer events.
For us, the product and the unique event experience are at the forefront and not the television presence.
