Bosch Planner registration passes unnoticed

Crossing the highway, long 440 metres, the building is rather dramatic. Parking of all new Park Stuttgart exhibition, it is able to house 4,500 vehicles come on this site on the airport platform of the capital of Baden-Württemberg. Most importantly, it allows Bosch to a first: give his name, for many years, few ordinary parking. "Bosch Planner" registration passes unnoticed. As the five red letters in the name of the world's leading automotive equipment are eight metres high and are well lit at night. "This unusual car park allows us to confirm our regional home, the Group was born in Stuttgart more than a century ago," explains Josefa Mohr, one of the leaders of the marketing of the group. According to local newspapers, the industrialist would have invested approximately EUR 20 million in this partnership.

Bad reputation

"The operation has not gone unnoticed in the world of advertising, marketing and communication", said Volker Nickel, Director to ZAW, the association of the major players in the advertising industry. Before adding: "Apart from major sporting bodies, sponsoring by private or public buildings not yet very common." But more than clever Bosch initiative should give ideas to other major groups in need of notoriety.

The L-Bank, which is the financial arm of the region of Baden-Württemberg, followed the example to sponsor one of the exhibition halls of what is here called "Neue Messe" (new show) of Stuttgart. Red also, five letters of this public store prominently outside the great hall (20,000 square meters). The amount of advertising investment remains as well guarded as the U.S. gold reserves at Fort Knox. Siegfried Melchior, one of the leaders of the L-Bank, acknowledged however that "the objective is to better position the Bank and to show this part of the Germany that it is an integral part of the regional economy.

The leadership team of the Neue Messe is not unhappy to see that new equipment has not gone unnoticed and that its sponsorship strategy was the subject of significant media coverage. "The financial direction of the frequently asked us to find sponsors to the tune of EUR 40 million". We have already almost reached this goal, thanks to Bosch, L-Bank and Lapp cabling company. Evidence that the German groups are beginning to appear on buildings other than sports forums. "It's probably a spirited to open market", provides Thomas Brandl, the Director of the Stuttgart fair communication.

Banks and stages

In this country where football is King, large groups do not hesitate to appear by linking their name to the football stadium in their city of implementation. Is, for example, that the Munich insurer Allianz gave its name by paying even EUR 10 million per year in a decade at the new stage of the capital of Bavaria, where where particular plays the FC Bayern München, the largest professional club of German. "Because of this agreement, everyone speaks of the Allianz-Arena, which is excellent at marketing level", welcomes the entourage of the President of the Executive Board, Michael Diekmann. Hamburg, the stage is the name of a Bank, HSH Nordbank.

Banking institutions are also very present, since we now speak of "commerzbank-arena" in Frankfurt, the stock market and financial capital of the Germany of the "DKB-Arena" in Rostock, this credit Bank which works almost exclusively by Internet with agreed to pay EUR 2.5 million per year for a decade, the team of professional football of this Hanseatic City. At Wolfsburg, VW auto group city, the Stadium course is "Volkswagen-Arena". And in Gelsenkirchen, in the Ruhr, the stage of the famous club Schalke 04 is called the "Veltins-Arena", the name of a major brand of beer.

Public demonstrations

The panorama of the sponsoring "in German" would be incomplete, if you forgot to mention another form of sponsorship: that of public events organized by government departments. In 2005-2006, the Federal State has benefited from funding by groups at conferences or festive meetings in the amount of EUR 80 million.

The present sponsors to this type of events: Deutsche Bahn, Deutsche Telekom, car manufacturers, the pharmaceutical industry, cigarette manufacturers, etc. The last Conference of ambassadors was sponsored by Deloitte & Touche, receipt of summer of the President of the Republic, Horst Kohler, has been largely supported financially by Dresdner Bank, Deutsche Bank, Deutsche Bahn and the energy of origin group Swedish Vattenfall. This strategy, sometimes criticised by the political opposition, could give ideas to the French. When the garden of the Elysée sponsored for example by cheese.... President