(ATR) A mix of "global" and "regional" sponsorships keeps Tissot active in sport year-round says the company’s CEO. In an exclusive interview with Around the Rings, Tissot CEO Francois Thiebaud says the watchmaker works at sporting events 329 days a year, many of those with substantial overlap between events.
"We are a partner with six main sports," Thiebaud tells ATR, "basketball is our main one with the FIBA [the International Basketball Federation], NBA and 3x3 project with FIBA.
"Cycling with the Tour de France since 2015 but we’ve been working with the International Cycling Union for the better part of 25 years. On top of that we have motorcycle racing.
"They’re our three ‘global’ sports," he said.
Three "regional sports" round out the partnerships with individual sports.
Rugby which allows Tissot to activate in European and some southern hemisphere markets, ice hockey for Northern European countries and fencing. The latter of which, Thiebaud called "a relatively small, niche one." However, fencing piqued Tissot’s interest because "it’s such an elegant sport and the fact that time is so important, that microsecond that it takes to win a match."
Additionally, Tissot is the official timekeeper of the Asian Games, a relationship stretching nearly two decades.
"That translates to 329 days of events and some days we even have three or four events at the same time," Thiebaud observed.
For Tissot’s global marketing strategy, Thiebaud said sport is "significant." He declined to say how much the company’s sponsorship of the Asian Games is worth, pegging it only "in the tens of millions of dollars." In 2015, Tissot signed a six-year partnership with the NBA, worth a reported $200 million. Announcing the deal in a press release, Tissot called it "the largest partnership in the company’s history of more than 160 years."
Being part of Swiss Timing allows Tissot to share expertise within the group of companies leading to seamless event timing.
"It’s the same timekeepers working on swimming and athletics with Omega, with Longines in equestrian and gymnastics or cycling and basketball with Tissot during the year that you’ll see here [in Jakarta for the Asian Games].
"It’s a team of properly trained, ingrained guys that can come anywhere in the world and in five or six days put on a world-class event."
Tissot is a sponsor of the Asian Games through 2022.
Allianz Joins TOP Program
German insurer Allianz has agreed a deal to become a top-tier partner from 2021 to 2028.
The sponsorship covers four Olympics, including the Beijing 2022 Winter Games, Paris 2024, Winter Olympics 2026 and Los Angeles 2028. Allianz will have marketing rights from 2019 onwards in China, France and Spain,
No financial figures were disclosed, but the deal to become the IOC’s 14th TOP sponsor may be worth over $200 million.
At a ceremony in Berlin, Jean-Marc Pailhol, head of group market management and distribution at Allianz SE, said the company had been in talks with the IOC about a sponsorship deal for nine months.
He said the partnership of the largest sport movement and largest insurer in the world was a "no brainer".
Describing Allianz as a solid, efficient and resilient company, Pailhol said the IOC sponsorship would have a huge impact on the awareness of the Allianz brand, especially in China, across Asia and the U.S.
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Written by Ed Hula III and Mark Bisson
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