As a sponsor of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the U.S. and Canada, and of North Carolina FC, Continental Tire activated a brand new mobile structure at the March 5 Charlotte Football Club inaugural home opener in Charlotte, NC, which was the most attended game in MLS history with a nearly (388 seats short) sold-out stadium. The brand’s 2022 season program launched 90 minutes before kickoff to engage 74,479 fans in soccer trivia and branded scarf entertainment.
Continental Tire’s new pod travels in compact form and unfolds into a 23-foot-wide by 13-foot-deep, brandable space with a ceiling, walls and floor. The unit features soccer-themed design elements and club colors and logos blended with the Continental Tire name. And for added brand visibility, there are also tire displays and a rooftop header showcasing MLS team flags that change to match the current home team location.
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“Sponsorships are one of the key ways we go to market,” says Brian Beierwaltes, senior manager-marketing and brand development at Continental Tire. “For us, we not only use our sponsorships for driving brand awareness, but we want to drive engagement. We’ve really seen success over the years with on-site activations as a key part of how we leverage our sponsorships. This is about soccer and being a fan of soccer, not about walking into a tire store.”
Continental Tire made a stylish statement during the event with its complimentary MLS team and Continental co-branded scarves. In order to receive a scarf, attendees followed Continental Tire signage to a low-touch distribution touchpoint that prompted them to register using their own mobile devices. Once registered, a fan could scan a QR code, and the vending-style scarf machine dispensed a single scarf. Every registration secured valuable consumer data, and every time a scarf was dispensed, branded imagery appeared on the large screens throughout the area.
Soccer fans at the activation could also join in live trivia challenges that generated on-site leads for Continental Tire. The games took place at podiums and called fans to challenge each other with timed, multiple-choice questions about MLS and North American soccer for the chance to win a new set of (you guessed it) Continental tires. The competition was so spirited that passersby paused to cheer on the competition.
“Data collection is important to us, but we also want to make sure that people have a positive experience,” Beierwaltes says. “When we go into a sponsorship, we look at who is the fanbase, and how can we make the biggest impact on that fanbase? We’ve seen that these fans have a high propensity for being loyal to sponsors and supporting the sponsors of that league. So when we got into soccer 10 years ago, as part of that, we also wanted to make sure we engage at the team level.”
Continental Tire’s new traveling activation will appear at more than 35 games across the country this season. The Continental Tire MLS sponsorship extends through 2025 and is planned to include a mix of activations including at MLS All-Star Game, MLS Cup Playoffs and MLS Cup tentpole events (Agency: rEvolution; Technology: MoZeus Worldwide).
Check Out the Mobile Pod Experience:
Photo credit: Jared Hull; Mission First Digital
