Now it’s Football, Bangers, Mince Pie and Chevrolet

AutoInformed.com

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.

About Ken Zino

Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn. He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe. Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap. AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks. Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
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One Response to Now it’s Football, Bangers, Mince Pie and Chevrolet

  1. Jack Harned says:

    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.

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