Skoda is the official partner of the famous Tour de France and has also been a member of the Club Tour de France (with LCL bank, Carrefour and Vittel since 2004).
In addition to the scope of its previous partnership with the race – which includes providing a large fleet of around 250 Superb, Superb Combi, Octavia, Fabia and Roomster vehicles for the race judges, managers, organisers and media partners as well as sponsoring the white jersey for the most successful young/under 25 competitor – this year sees Skoda partner on a new Tour app.
Available from Android Market for Android smart phones, the official Tour De France Application powered By Skoda, aims to help cycle fans stay up to date with the race during July. Offering live minute-by-minute race updates, real time GPS tracking of where riders, teams and breakaways stand, as well as access to highlight vidoes, photos, Twitter feeds, rider profiles, stage details and categories , results and standings.
The mobile device has received mixed reviews from the public – some positive, others negative. A typical post on Android Market from Phil says: ‘This is a really, really good app, but after 2 days of the Tour there a just a few teething problems. Click on Standings and only Green Jersey has any info, the rest just say “Waiting for Official Results”. Click on Tracking Situation and the order of riders is correct but their times are at least a day old. Otherwise, great!’
To further boost the sponsorship activation, Skoda’s Tour TV spot, which plays on bike racing-led jokes and humour in classic Skoda fun ad style, is seeded across YouTube and runs in broadcaster Eurosport’s Tour coverage.
Comment:
The Tour itself claims the event is the sport’s world’s third most watched event (after the Olympics and the World Cup), with 15 million watching live and two billion watching on TV in 200 countries. Its global reach and mass appeal across demographics and markets, reflects Skoda’s own international ambitions.
But judging by some of the posts and blog comments, the technology hasn’t been entirely successful. The TV sports have certainly garnered more positive and appreciate cyber buzz.
Which is a shame as despite the Tour being one of the most heavily branded events in world sport, big name global brand sponsors like HTC and Skoda in the Tour are the exception rather than the rule. Heavyweights such as T-Mobile and Adidas have backed away from the competition in recent years after a slew of doping scandals and most teams have smaller sponsors which means they often operate on budgets of under $10m.
So it is all the more important for the larger brands who are involved to to really maximise their marketing muscle and involvement.
Links:
https://market.android.com/details?id=fr.aso.tourdefrance&feature=search_result
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI2mCONkoro
http://www.skoda-auto.com/com/about/life/cycling/pages/tourdefrance.aspx
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