May 9 – Manchester City, who have recently taken on board a $400 million investment from Chinese investors in their City Football Group ownership group, have added two new Chinese partners in advance of their July pre-season trip to the country where they will play Borussia Dortmund and local rivals Manchester United.
PAK Lighting, a supplier of high quality indoor and outdoor lighting products, has become the club’s first Official Lighting Partner in China, while Whaley has become the club’s Official TV Partner in China.
PAK has a tradition of working with sporting events and venues across China, including the 2010 Asia Games and the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Olympic diving champion, Xiongni, became their brand ambassador in 2001 and for four years they were an official sponsor of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). In football PAK has sponsored CCTV’s broadcast of the 2018 World Cup Qualifiers.
PAK will activate its sponsorship primarily through a number of fan initiatives beginning with the club’s pre-season tour to China. PAK will create a variety of in market initiatives, including promotional assets, access to exclusive behind the scenes footage, LED advertising and an online presence as the club’s official regional lighting partner.
The Whaley TV partnership will have a strong focus on content, with the Club producing exclusive 4K content which will showcase Whaley’s smart technology. Whaley’s logo will appear on the back of City shirts for the tour matches. Whaley has Chinese corporate giants Tencent and Alibaba as investors.
Ferran Soriano, chief executive officer of City Football Group, said: “We are very pleased to add Whaley to our family of Chinese partners, reflecting our growing commitment to and presence in that market. Whaley is a great entertainment brand, committed to creating immersive experiences for Chinese families and millennials and we are confident that we can extend those experiences to City fans across China. We are looking forward to working together in the years ahead, and particularly when we visit China over the summer.”
Mr Huaiya Li, CEO of Whaley added: “We are both fast growing brands with innovation at the heart of everything we do. We are extremely excited by Manchester City’s plans to develop their presence in China and believe we can create some fantastic content for our consumers through our cutting edge technology”.
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