Hankook Tire and Real Madrid Formalize Partnership

Hankook formalized its partnership with the Real Madrid football club recently when Hankook Tire Worldwide President and CEO Hyun Shick Cho and Real Madrid C.F. President Florentino Pérez officially signed their global partnership contract at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium. The sponsorship deal will run from July 2016 for a period of three season and unites two leading names, one in the business of tire manufacturing and one in football.

The deal will help Hankppk to gain access to the 450 million fans that the popular club Real Madrid has across different global markets. Both Hankook and the 2016 UEFA Champions League winner share a drive to win through innovation and have high brand equity.

As an outcome of the deal, Hankook has already begun to benefit from perimeter advertising at the club’s home ground, the Santiago Bernabéu stadium during home games. Further global marketing rights are covered as part of the deal. Real Madrid’s President Florentino Pérez was joined by some of his first squad players at the official signing ceremony where Hankook officially added FC Real Madrid to its premium sports marketing and sponsoring portfolio.

The agreement highlights the culture both entities share of winning innovation in premium brand equity. This has manifested in Real Madrid’s highly impressive performance in global footballwhile Hankook Tire has become one of the leading tire manufacturers in the world through proven technological excellence and premium products. Both parties promote forward looking investments, innovative strategies and consistent efforts for customers and fans. Hankook Tire’s aim through this partnership is to increase brand recognition and expand its global footprint along with Real Madrid’s worldwide popularity. Both parties emphasized the fact that they shared a common philosophy of winning through innovation to achieve their goals.

Regarding the partnership with Real Madrid, Hyun Shick Cho, Hankook Tire’s President said that the strategic partnership Hankook and Real Madrid will serve as a stepping stone to enhance Hankook’s reputation as a premium brand. He added that “as one of the world’s best football clubs and one of the global top tire producers we are both empowered to reach out to the global community with our shared culture of winning innovation in respective fields”.

In addition to the home matches played by Real Madrid in the Primera División (the Spanish 1st league), the sponsorship agreement will also cover Real Madrid’s Copa del Rey matches (the Spanish national soccer cup) as well as international home and away matches. Through advertising at these matches and a number of promotions, Hankook plans to reach out to 450 million Real Madrid fans all over the world and effectively communicate its brand philosophy and innovative products and services with support from the Club’s world-class players.

Hankook is heavily involved in sports marketing through partnerships and sponsorships in major sporting activities including the DTM racing series (with Audi, Mercedes-Benz and BMW), Universitaire Équipe Pro (French Rugby league), UEFA Europa League, BV Borussia Dortmund (German 1st league football club), Northampton Rugby Football Club (English Premiership), Lyon Olympique, DTM (Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters, racing series with Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz), FIA Formula 3 European Championship and more.