Pledging its commitment to sport, McDonald’s Corp. has renewed its longtime sponsorship of the Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cup through 2014.
The partnership extension gives McDonald’s global rights to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa and the 2014 event scheduled for a country yet to be determined in South America. The agreement also gives the QSR the access to the FIFA Confederations Cups in 2009 and 2013. As part of the sponsorship, McDonald’s retains its status as the exclusive retail foodservice operations sponsor. The announcement comes one day after FIFA launched its Win in Africa With Africa program.
“Our support of the FIFA World Cup at both the global and grassroots levels also demonstrates out our going commitment to promoting balances, active lifestyles for customers around the world,” Mary Dillion, McDonald’s executive VP and global CMO said in a statement. “As a local family restaurant, McDonald’s encourages thousand of families, including club sponsorships, youth [soccer] schools and junior tournaments.”
McDonald’s plans to activate its World Cup sponsorship through promotions, contests, advertisements and in-store activities in more than 100 countries worldwide.
This year, McDonald’s sent 1,408 children ages six to 10 years from around the world to the FIFA World Cup in Germany where they walked the world’s best soccer players onto the field at the start of all 64 FIFA World Cup matches. The initiative was part of the fast food chain’s Player Escort Program, in which participants also earned the chance to play soccer matches as part of their own tournament in select German host cities.
In support of the 2006 World Cup, McDonald’s launched a series of promotions around the world, including an online game and an in-store promotion with limited edition FIFA World Cup beverage cups in the U.S. (PROMO Xtra, June 9, 2006).
McDonald’s operates more than 30,000 restaurants in more than 100 countries. The company spent nearly $7.7 billion on advertising in 2005, per TNS Media Intelligence.
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