15 Aug 2014 05:30am
Hyundai Australia will not renew its naming rights deal with the Hopman Cup tennis tournament in order to devote its long-term sponsorship spend to soccer.
Hyundai Australia will not renew its naming rights deal with the Hopman Cup tennis tournament in order to devote its long-term sponsorship spend to soccer.
Hyundai's decision effectively leaves its associated company Kia as the dominant car brand in Tennis.
In many ways Hyundai's 26-year sponsorship of the Hopman Cup has been an outlier in the company's sponsorship strategy, which is globally focussed on soccer.
Hyundai is about to start its tenth year as naming rights partner of the Football Federation Australia's A-League competition and the company sponsors a range of grassroots programs nationally. It is also a major partner of the FIFA World Cup.
Hyundai's decision is a blow to the Hopman Cup, which will have to find a new principal partner for its 2015 event in early January during a heavily congested summer of sport, with the cricket and netball World Cups and Asian Cup soccer tournament on top of the usual summer sports schedule.
Hyundai's general manager of PR, Bill Thomas, told Sponsorship News that the decision was a difficult one, but necessary in order to rationalise the brand's portfolio.
"Our global sponsorships are aligned with football and as long as it continues to work we have to carry that through on a regional and national level, so our spend will continue to flow into football," said Thomas.
He said the decision also gave its sister brand Kia, which is partially owned by Hyundai, clear air in the tennis sector.
A Kia spokesperson told Sponsorship News the car company was unaware of Hyundai's move and had not yet made provisions to bid for the event.
"Our sponsorship dollars are pretty much tied up, but, who knows, someone in Seoul might decide it is a good fit", he said. Kia's sponsorship strategy is decided centrally from the company's Seoul headquarters.
Kia is the principal partner of Asia-Pacific's marquee tennis event, the Australian Open, and leverages the event heavily through above-the-line and sponsorship activations.
Carlton safe from chopping block
Thomas said that Hyundai's rationalisation would not extend to its other major non-soccer deal, with Carlton in the AFL.
Hyundai renewed its Carlton deal until 2017 late last year. The deal has been in place since 1995.
"We get a lot of value out of Carlton, and we're interested in sport in general," said Thomas.
"We just think that Kia should be given the opportunity to 'own' tennis, and there are some opportunities to expand our [football] footprint".