It's a great spectacle, but does it sell cars?
Starting with the next race at Windsor, Canada, on 6 June, Volkswagen will be providing support to the increasingly popular Red Bull air races as a global sponsor.
It is an extension of the marketing cooperation that VW and Red Bull have done since 2004 when the logo of the Austrian energy drink company appeared on Race Touareg team cars.
The question if sports marketing is effective or just a waste of shareholder money has been debated for decades of course, as it is is impossible to measure the results.
“Motor sports – both on land and in the air – stands for sports competition and technological innovation alike. Precisely these attributes also apply to our sports models,” says Jörn Hinrichs, Head of Experience Marketing at Volkswagen.
Volkswagen is also the team sponsor of the German pilot Matthias Dolderer.
Volkswagen will be providing support to the races with vehicles and logos.
Along with the sponsoring of the Red Bull Air Race, VW is also the team sponsor of the German pilot Matthias Dolderer. He will compete in future races with the VW logo on his airplane.
The Red Bull Air Race has been run since 2005. More than 3.5 million people followed the races live last year, and another 270 million watched the events on TV, according to the promoter.
The races will take place in eight countries on five continents this year. After the Windsor race on 6 June for the fourth round of 2010 season, there are remaining races in New York on 20 June, and in Germany on the Lausitzring racetrack on 8 August. The pilots will also fly in the Hungarian capital of Budapest on 20 August. The season ends with a race in Portugal on 5 September.