Turkish appliance brand and Narta exclusive label Beko has signed a sponsorship agreement with Spanish megaclub FC Barcelona, home of some of association football’s biggest names.
For the upcoming season, including La Liga, Copa Del Rey and UEFA Champions League fixtures, household names like Neymar Junior, Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta will play in the Catalan club’s famous cerise and blue stripes with Beko branding on their shoulders.
To make the most of this impactful sponsorship opportunity, Beko’s parent company, Arçelik, has unveiled a new logo for brand, which markets a full suits of home appliances in Australia, though retailers like Betta Home Living, Bing Lee and Retravision.
This sponsorship represents quite a big coup for Beko as Barcelona has come surprisingly late to the world of sports marketing. Unlike comparable rivals that have had sold their shirt, stadium, shorts, likeness and even have official paint and noodle partners, Barcelona had always eschewed these deals, and didn’t wear any logo on its shirtfront (save its own) until the 2006-07 season, when it promoted UNICEF. Barcelona’s charitable initiative stalled somewhat after five years promoting this non-profit organisation, when it inked a 150 million euro deal with Qatar Airways.
Globally, Beko says this partnership is about two major brands coming together to grow and develop throughout the world.
“Beko is inspired by people,” Beko said. “This inspiration has helped us grow into a global company. It continues to shape our vision, set our course and help us navigate to our goals. Beko’s great passion for sport comes from our belief in the revitalising power sport has to improve lives, be it through sheer entertainment and joy, or through social sports programs that help shape and build communities.Therefore, we have been actively supporting sport in different branches including basketball and football.”
Over the past few years, Beko has been an active partner of association football, especially in England. Regular viewers of the English Premier League would have noticed Beko signage on grounds including The Emirates (Arsenal) and Stamford Bridge (Chelsea). Arsenal is now sponsored by Indesit, while Chelsea is sponsored by Samsung.
“That spirit brings together one of the world’s fastest growing global brands with one of the world’s most loved and supported football clubs. Such exposure and visibility will connect Beko and FC Barcelona, two great brands with shared beliefs in the power of sport to make a difference.”
Beko’s Australian website says the company will be methodically increasing its activity around this sponsorship.
“We’ll be communicating what the ‘change for better’ brand story means for Beko in the coming months, and of course showing how we’re getting further involved with FC Barcelona so please watch out for more communication.”
Being a global football brand on the same tier as Real Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich means Barcelona is normally at the pinnacle of interest in football, which is advantageous for Beko as its new sponsor. This natural enthusiasm for Barcelona news will only intensify in the build-up to and on 26 October 2014. For it is on this date that new Barcelona signing and the Hannibal Lector of the footballing world, Luis Suarez, will finally be free of his 4-month ban for biting Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini. Suarez is prohibited from attending the club, setting foot in the stadium or training with his new teammates, so interest will be absolutely electric when the time finally comes for him to be officially unveiled and then take the field for his new club.
This author is on Twitter: @Patrickavenell