Ex Manchester United captain Bryan Robson, Left, or “Captain Marvel” with Ryan Giggs in Shanghai, China with a Chevrolet Malibu. Can ‘Football, Bangers, Mince Pie and Chevrolet’ be set to music?
Chevrolet is entering into a five-year deal with Barclays Premier League member Manchester United to become the football club’s Official Automotive Partner. Chevrolet’s five-year deal includes the creation of the Chevrolet China Cup in July, with matches against Shanghai Shenhua FC and team in “another” Chinese city, which will be announced later. This is Chevrolet’s first global football sponsorship in the brand’s 101-year history.
The Chevy Bow Tie brand, of course, has long been associated with baseball in the U.S., and kicked off what has thus far been a disastrous 2012 Detroit Tiger’s season with advertisements featuring two multimillionaire Detroit baseball stars. (See New Chevrolet Ads with Verlander, Fielder for 2012 Season)
The ads are a remake of the now classic 1974 “Baseball, Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and Chevrolet” TV ads, and thank goodness the new Chevrolet vehicles they are attempting to sell are decidedly not remakes.
In the latest attempt to make Chevrolet a global brand (which ultimately means money losing Opel will shrink), GM marketing is using popular global sports, in this case football – or soccer as it is known in the U.S. where another type of pigskin football is dominant. GM previously announced that it will not be advertising during the Super Bowl, and soccer in some Detroit circles is derisively called “slow hockey.” Adding to the global aspect of the deal, the announcement came at event at the Shanghai Science & Technology Museum with representatives from Chevrolet, and Manchester United.
Smart move by Ewanick and Chevrolet, given essential objective of making it a global brand.
Opel moved to sports sponsorship in the ’80s, trying with success to change its then- lackluster image in Western Europe. Opel sponsored a top football (soccer) team in each country, and became sponsor of the European Cup, a big deal biennial event between the World Cup years. World Cup was too expensive for Opel alone, so they tried to get GM to take on global sponsorship. I was involved in that effort. GM did take a significant role in the 1994 World Cup, when it was in the U.S., but Detroit-based management never quite realized the global impact.