CHICAGO (November 28) – Announced Wednesday, Continental Tire and rEvolution, the global integrated sports marketing and media services agency, agreed to a multi-year extension to rEvolution’s U.S. Agency of Record status with the leading auto tire manufacturing company, continuing a partnership established in 2009. rEvolution currently manages Continental Tire’s sports activation around Major League Soccer (MLS) and college basketball, as well as General Tire’s involvement in Major League Fishing (MLF) and Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA).
“Continental Tire the Americas has proven to be a valued and essential long-term partner of our agency,” said rEvolution CEO John Rowady. “Our relationship has grown tremendously across our integrated services platform, and we look forward to helping them gain additional tire market share through our strategic sports campaigns.”
As the official sponsorship marketing Agency of Record for Continental Tire in the U.S., rEvolution has been instrumental in establishing Continental as an industry leader in the North American sports landscape for nearly a decade. Throughout that time, Continental Tire has utilized rEvolution’s integrated services across MLS, college basketball and International Motor Sports Association (IMSA), leaning on the agency’s proficiency to effectively carry out Continental’s sponsorships’ strategy.
“Sponsorship has been one of the most significant aspects of our overall marketing efforts for Continental Tire, and we have relied on rEvolution not only to make sure we are in the right places but also to ensure that we are doing the right things to engage and connect with the fans and consumers,” said Travis Roffler, Director of Marketing, Continental Tire. “They have been a trusted partner in every phase of our sponsorship programs, including identifying the platform, activating each partnership and measuring the results in order to effectively track the success and ROI of each program and the growth of the brand as a whole.”
Since starting its sponsorship of MLS, Continental has utilized rEvolution’s production, media planning and buying, creative, corporate hospitality and consulting and research services to create its status as an integral brand within the league. Since the inception of its MLS and U.S. Soccer partnerships, Continental Tire has activated at 40 or more matches annually, developing media strategies that include buys across FOX and ESPN networks of each televised MLS game and across digital, trade and print, and creating a suite of Continental Tire soccer spots featuring Alexi Lalas, Clint Dempsey, Tobin Heath and other American soccer personalities. Corporate hospitality has been hosted at MLS regular season matches, the MLS All-Star Game and MLS Cup Championship, as well as USMNT and USWNT matches. Data has been gathered on-site and through original research to gauge sponsorship effectiveness.
In three years of college basketball sponsorship, rEvolution has helped Continental Tire to identify, negotiate and leverage partnerships with 31 schools across six power conferences, plus 11 pre- and post-season tournaments, effectively making a massive splash in the sport without an official league sponsorship. The creative team produced humorous TV spots with spokesman Dan Patrick, and the carefully-considered deals yielded media buys and courtside signage in 814 games last year alone, including 23 of the 25 most viewed nationally televised games. rEvolution’s research group gathered data across the college basketball fan base, turning findings into actionable insights that are used during continuing strategic brand campaign planning.
In addition to integrated sponsorship efforts, rEvolution has also produced brand-focused TV spots and digital creative for both the Continental Tire and General Tire brands.
# # #
About Continental Tire
Based in Fort Mill, S.C., Continental Tire the Americas, LLC manufactures and distributes a complete premium line of passenger, light truck and commercial tires for original equipment and replacement markets. Our ultra-high, performance tires include award-winning technologies that focus on safety, help save money and are #ForWhatYouDo. Continental’s premium products are available at leading independent tire dealers, car dealers and mass retail companies across North America. Continental Tire is a proud supporter of Major League Soccer (MLS), college basketball, West Coast Customs, Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, Petty’s Garage and Roush Performance.
About General Tire
For over 100 years General Tire has offered a complete quality line of ultra-high performance, passenger, light truck, off-road and commercial tires to meet all your needs. General Tire is a proud supporter of ARCA; Best in the Desert Racing Series; Major League Fishing; King of the Cage; Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series, Late Model Dirt Series, Pro Pulling League, Modified Series, Drag Boat Racing Series and ASCS Sprint Car Dirt Series; Expedition Overland; FreestyleMx.com Tour; Zero One Odyssey; and Spec Tire of JeepSpeed. Team GT supports athletes: CJ Hutchins, Jim Beaver, Jeff Proctor, Chase Motorsports, Camburg Racing, Stan Shelton, Ryan Beat, Skeet Reese, Edwin Evers, Mark Rose, Ott DeFoe, John Crews, Britt Myers, Bill McDonald, and Greg Biffle.
About rEvolution
rEvolution is an independent, fully integrated sports marketing, consulting and media agency, which creates award-winning brand-building marketing, strategic consulting and media programs throughout the global sports industry. Created in 2001, with a focus on representing brands in sports, rEvolution’s global headquarters is located in Chicago with U.S. offices in Atlanta, Charlotte, Connecticut, Denver, Indianapolis, Minneapolis and California, in addition to a U.K.-based office in London. rEvolution provides clients with a full-service marketing approach, including sponsorship consulting, media planning and buying, creative production and design, experiential marketing, hospitality, public relations, social media and research. Client partners include Continental Tire, Indian Motorcycle, Northwestern Mutual, Polaris ORV, Samsung and Shell. rEvolution has been recognized by Inc. Magazine’s 500/5000 list as one of the fastest growing private companies an unprecedented eight times. Learn more at www.revolutionworld.com.