A new paramount agreement stipulated between Lega Nazionale Professionisti B and BKT, a major player in the Off-Highway market, has been officially announced. BKT assumes the role of title sponsor for the Serie B championship for the next three seasons. On the occasion, Serie B has changed its name into “Serie BKT” represented by a logo uniting BKT and Lega B, which will be the companion to clubs and fans starting from the 42 match days, all Playoffs and Playouts of the coming season on 22 pitches throughout Italy. One of the core aspects of this cooperation is to support the training of young talents thanks to a plan of action and activities focusing on novices, football academies and the stadiums belonging to the Serie B teams. As a result, growth and union will be one of the pillars of the “Serie BKT”, values that are in perfect harmony with BKT's corporate claim, Growing Together. The aim is to share the same enthusiasm and passionate spirit to be found among players and fans entering this way into a direct relationship with clubs and fans enhancing at the same time BKT's brand awareness in Italy.
“I am very satisfied with this agreement, which is fully in line with BKT's banding strategy with focus on Italy, where our European Head Office is located,” – Lucia Salmaso, Managing Director of BKT Europe, states. – “Football has always been the most popular sport in Italy arousing great passion and enthusiasm. Entering this privileged relationship means a lot to us, since it reflects our business style and philosophy based on passion, loyalty, perseverance and tenacity when facing daily market challenges.”
Lucia Salmaso and Paolo Bedin
“This partnership is a continuation on the path to growth and going international that Lega B is putting forward full of fierce spirit and firmly believing into its brand. It is actually an essential course we adopt to ensure major economic support to our clubs stimulating and increasing spectators' both interest and involvement,” – Mauro Balata, President Lega B, comments. – “Having joined the project of a company, which operates on a global scale and enjoys a considerable international prestige being a leader in their sector, is going to trace a path that will lead Serie B always further ahead. Due to its unpredictability, the show and the number of goals that are assured, the well-balanced tournament, the strong and deeply rooted presence on the Territory along with social engagement, and last but not least the descent of the teams taking part in Serie B, this championship has been able to build up a strong identity and has acquired great dignity over the last few years. It is hence one of the major and high-ranking contenders in the world of football, and this partnership gives evidence for this distinctive feature.”
Many are the similarities between BKT's key principles and the Lega B spirit. First of all, there is the determination to always achieve new goals and targets along with commitment, search for perfection, and the power to pursue objectives. If Lega B can be considered a sort of talent incubator for the number-one stages of national football in Italy, the same goes for BKT in terms of Research & Development, consulting and listening to user needs within the company's market.
This partnership's common denominator is the ability of taking up and mastering challenges thanks to their own players' trustfulness - just like fierce determination and firm intention to obtain extraordinary performance on any terrain or pitch.
Football has been for long at the core of BKT's attention. A concrete example is the choice of making the king of football freestyle, Iya Traoré, a special guest at the company's main events worldwide, or the almost traditional football distribution to visitors and guests on the occasion of trade shows.
Passion for both sport and the show are likewise part of the motives, which have led BKT to being a sponsor of other international events such as Monster Jam, which the company has been sponsoring since 2013, the famous American motorsport show with also some European stages, where giant Monster Trucks fitted with BKT tires perform unbelievable stunts.
Or again, most recently, XTRACTOR Around the World in Sudafrica, an expedition lasting 40 days. Aboard the latest-generation McCormick agricultural tractors, some drivers of the 1st Parachute Regiment “Tuscania” (part of the Italian Carabinieri corps) have travelled over 7,000 km of land, supporting also humanitarian initiatives in cooperation with AMREF, including, for instance, the build of a 100m x 50mfootball pitch and a Community Garden.
The new “Serie BKT” is hence fully in line with the corporate marketing and communication strategy aiming at enhanced brand awareness, which will be definitely increased through visibility in all Lega B stadiums, on both the pitch and grandstands, by television broadcasting stations and TV networks as well as promotional initiatives all around the football championship, capturing this way a vast and enthusiastic audience.
The agreement also bears the signature of Havas Sports & Entertainment Havas SE, a specialist team of Havas Media Group, which operates actively in creating meaningful relations among brands and fan communities levering on the great emotional capacity of sport and entertainment.
Stefano Spadini, CEO Havas Media Group, states: "At the end of the first year of cooperation with the Lega Nazionale Professionisti B, with a project thrust starting from sponsorships to create values activating all of the league's assets, we are today announcing BKT as title sponsor. This important agreement gives evidence how amalgamating the common factors of a property and a company can create a partnership that is able to build up a close and durable relationship with fans. Our role as advisors has played a central part in this agreement; we are working on several other projects, which – as I firmly believe – will lead to likewise satisfying business results.”
