Lebara, one of Europe’s leading mobile telecoms operators for foreign nationals has today announced its first sponsorship of an international football team.
As an official sponsor of Borussia Dortmund, Lebara’s branding will soon appear in the stadium of one of the top two most recognised and successful football clubs in Germany. With 6.6 million fans, the club has one of the largest global fan communities and with one of the largest stadiums in the world, hosting up to 80,000 spectators every match. The MVNO’s announcement of its year-long contract with Borussia Dortmund comes as the German club prepares for the Champions League final against Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium on Saturday 25th May.
As the central hub, linking Western and Eastern Europe, Germany is an important corridor and destination for migrant communities. Lebara’s sponsorship (which officially begins in July 2013) will be centred around the club’s home in the heart of the North Rhine-Westphalia region – the most populous area in Germany for both migrant and native communities. Of the 1.08 million migrants who came to Germany in 2012 around 186,000 moved to this region[1].
Lebara selected the club for its first venture into football sponsorship because the team also has an international profile with 60% of its followers coming from outside Germany. Many of the club’s key players are from similar ethnic backgrounds to Lebara’s customer communities. The company hopes that its natural synergies with the club will enable it to increase engagement levels with existing customers as well as attract new customers both within Germany and further afield.
“Our business is not only about providing high-quality, low cost national and international calling, data and related services around the world; it’s about giving something back to our customers. In this case, through the common language of football,” said David Moffatt, CEO of Lebara Group. “Our partnership with one of the world’s top international football clubs provides a valuable platform for our business to further extend its reach into the migrant community in Germany – our fastest-growing region, but also to tap into other migrant hotspots elsewhere in Europe”.
By understanding different cultures, and keeping on the pulse of its customers’ interests, Lebara has seen significant growth since it was founded in 2001 and now has eight offices around the world. Through its strategic partnership with Borussia Dortmund, Lebara has demonstrated that it is keeping abreast of migration patterns within Europe and targeting the right audience to help it further drive its international sales.
Lebara SIM cards and top-ups are currently available through a wide distribution network of over 50.000 POS. The sponsorship is set to strengthen Lebara’s foothold in the city of Dortmund as well as to reach new customers in the Polish, Croatian and Turkish corridors. Although exact details of the sponsorship have not yet been confirmed, there is potential to back up traditional stadium electronic banner advertising with an exclusively packaged Lebara Mobile “BVB 09 SIM card”.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for our club and we are proud to have been selected as Lebara’s first partner in the competitive world of international football,” said Hans-Joachim Watzke, CEO from Borussia Dortmund. “Lebara encourages people to participate and share in each other’s cultures and these are interests also represented by the values of our club. This marks the start of what we hope will be a long and successful partnership which will help grow both our brands in key markets in Europe and beyond.”
[1] According to Germany’s National Office for Statistics, May 2013