Auto brands rev up on sports marketing

PACQUIAO (center), Palawan Gov. and Columbian Autocar Corp. chair Pepito Alvarez (left) and PBA Commissioner Chito Salud at a press conference announcing the boxing champ’s appointment as head coach of the KIA team in the pro league. Eugene Araneta

If you hear a roaring buzz in the motoring community nowadays, don’t be surprised.

Cars have started parking themselves at sporting venues, proving that marketing products via athletic competition is the way to go nowadays.

Of course, the biggest splash has been created by Kia Motors. Just this Monday, Columbian Autocar Corp. (CAC) held a press conference to make official its entry into the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) for the 40th season.

“We are proud to be among the roster of teams that people will watch in the PBA. More than that, just to be mentioned alongside the teams that made the PBA what it is today is an accomplishment for us,” said Ginia Domingo, president of CAC, the official distributor of Kia cars in the country.

CAC certainly didn’t leave any stones unturned to make sure that its first crack at Asia’s oldest professional basketball league would be memorable.

A BLOCKBUSTER press conference like this is a portent of things to come for the newest team in the PBA. Eugene Araneta

Kia tapped eight-division champion Manny Pacquiao as its head coach, a move that certainly drew attention from opposite ends of the media spectrum.

“I’m glad to be part of Team Kia,” Pacquiao told a packed room filled with journalists during the press conference.

CAC chair Pepito Alvarez, also the governor of Palawan, also beamed proudly at the latest coup Kia pulled off.

“With a world champion coaching our team, we can be very sure that the eyes of this country will be on us every time we play,” he said.

PACQUIAO is given his team jacket and cap by Alvarez. Eugene Araneta

But it’s not only Kia reeling in celebrities in their bid to make a sports marketing push. Toyota, for one, has continued its personality-peppered Vios Cup, a race that has overtaken the motorsports circuit.

Celebrities like champion Phoemela Barranda have seriously taken up the challenge of burning rubber on the race track and, in turn, Toyota has garnered a lot of attention with each staging of the Vios Cup.

Mazda, too, has joined the sports marketing fray.

It has signed on as a major sponsor of the 2014 UAAP men’s basketball season, and in a major way.

Aside from the usual in-venue and on-air advertising it will get from the country’s premier varsity basketball league, Mazda will also be ridden by some of the biggest stars in the UAAP.

CAC president Ginia Domingo. Eugene Araneta

To work and support

“Mazda is excited to work with and support UAAP Season 77 with the all-new Mazda 3 SkyActiv,” said Berjaya Auto Philippines (BAP) president and chief executive Steven Tan. BAP is the exclusive distributor of Mazda vehicles in the country.

“The UAAP is the most exciting and most anticipated sporting event in the Philippines. The UAAP shares the same core values with every Mazda vehicle—dynamic performance, fast pace and a youthful appeal. It is only natural for us to create this synergy with the UAAP on TV.”

The boldest move Mazda Philippines is trying to pull off? It will provide five UAAP players with a service for the entire season.

Thirdy Ravena of the Ateneo Blue Eagles, Arnold van Opstal of defending champion De La Salle Green Archers, Aljon Mariano of University of Santo Tomas, Roi Sumang of University of the East and Cris Tolomia of Far Eastern University will be going to practices and games in a brand-new Mazda 3 this season.

Perfect match

MAZDA Berjaya officials Steven Tan, Japheth Castillo and Dave Macasadia with three of the five UAAP stars who were named brand ambassadors.

“We’re excited to see these up-and-coming basketball superstars drive around town in the new Mazda 3 cars,” Tan added. “There’s nothing like having the right car that speaks volumes about its driver. And we know that with the Mazda 3’s dynamic persona, it will be a perfect match for each of our five college basketball idols.”

Ravena’s more popular older brother, Kiefer Ravena, on the other hand, is an endorser of Suzuki, another proof that car companies have started to look at the direction of sports for marketing purposes.

And it looks like these cars are in it for the long haul.

Kia, for instance, is looking at a long stint in the PBA. And after watching the Korean brand sponsor huge tournaments all over the world, you know that it is serious in making its mark in Philippine sports.

And so, too, are the rest of the largest names in the automotive industry.