Manchester United has announced a multi-year sponsorship agreement in the Asia-Pacific region with American multi-national food and beverage company PepsiCo.
Under the deal, PepsiCo becomes United’s official soft drinks partner in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei and will hold exclusive rights to use the club’s branding on its products and point of sale material in these markets. The English Premier League champion said it has a fan base in excess of 38 million in the countries in question, with the intention being for Pepsi’s experience in both football marketing and within the region to further increase this reach.
Manchester United group managing director Richard Arnold said: “Our huge following in this region and the strong popularity of both brands within Asia-Pacific can only benefit our fans. PepsiCo understands what our fans love and through our partnership will be bringing them exciting promotions and incentives getting them closer to the club they support. PepsiCo is an ideal partner for Manchester United because of its unique understanding of sports and inventive marketing initiatives.”
Mustafa Moussa, senior marketing director for social beverages at PepsiCo Asia-Pacific, added: “The combination of Manchester United’s stature as one of the world’s most iconic sports franchises and PepsiCo’s portfolio of beloved brands will create exciting new opportunities for consumers throughout the region. The partnership brings to life Pepsi’s ‘Live for Now’ positioning, which was launched in Asia Pacific in January this year. Working with the biggest names in sports and entertainment, we look forward to enabling consumers to celebrate their passion for Pepsi and Manchester United.”
In other news, United’s deal with Russian national airline Aeroflot has come under criticism from the country’s government. Aeroflot replaced Turkish Airlines as United’s official carrier in a five-year agreement signed earlier this month. The contract represented the club’s first deal with a Russian company, but Russia’s Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin took to Twitter to question the partially state-owned airline’s commitment to its homeland after President Vladimir Putin urged it to invest in aircraft domestically.
“Aeroflot prefers Anglo-Saxon football and basketball clubs to our planes? I might invite them for an intimate talk,” said Rogozin on his Russian Twitter account, as reported by Reuters. He added in a later post: “State-owned companies should buy … our (Russian) aircraft. I will hold a meeting of producers and buyers on Aug 14.” Aeroflot, which is also a sponsor of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic Games, Russian club CSKA Moscow and US NBA basketball franchise the Brooklyn Nets, declined to comment and did not state whether Rogozin had formally invited its executives to discuss the United sponsorship.
