Indiantelevision.com Team

(10 July 2006 2:00 pm)

MUMBAI: Fast food major McDonald's has renewed its sponsorship with Fifa the world governing body of football, till 2014.

McDonald's has been a longtime champion of football for more than 25 years and has served as an official partner of the Fifa World Cup since 1994 in the US, 1998 in France, 2002 in Korea and Japan and 2006 in Germany.

As a Fifa World Cup sponsor through 2014, McDonald's has global rights to both the 2010 Fifa World Cup South Africa and the 2014 Fifa World Cup yet to be selected on the South American continent, as well as to the Fifa Confederations Cups during this period. This enables McDonald's to continue to bring the world's passion for football to life for millions of fans as part of the company's 'i'm lovin' it' strategy of making stronger, more relevant connections with its customers around the world.

McDonald's sponsorship provides the opportunity for creative promotions, contests, ads, and in-store activation in more than 100 countries across the globe.

The renewal agreement allows McDonald's to continue its status as the exclusive retail foodservice operations sponsor with special advertising rights, and the sole sponsor of the McDonald's Player Escort programme for the Fifa Confederation Cup as well as Fifa World Cup.

This initiative provides an opportunity for more than 1,400 children ages 6-10 from around the world to walk onto the field hand-in-hand with the top football players at the start of all 64 Fifa World Cup matches. In Germany, 51 countries participated in the programne, which also featured special Player Escort matches held throughout the tournament.

McDonald's executive VP and global chief marketing officer Mary Dillon says, "McDonald's ability to reach more than 50 million customers in our more than 30,000 restaurants worldwide puts us in the unique position to activate a truly meaningful and relevant World Cup programme.

"Our support of Fifa World Cup at both the global and grassroots levels also demonstrates our ongoing commitment to promoting balanced, active lifestyles for customers around the world. As a local family restaurant, McDonald's encourages thousands of families and children to participate in community football activities, including club sponsorships, youth football schools and junior tournaments."

Fifa president Joseph S. Blatter says, "With McDonald's, we have another long-time Official Sponsor on board for the Fifa World Cup events in 2010 and 2014. By opting to pursue the partnership also symbolized with the player escorts that has bound us for the last 12 years, McDonald's has once again shown its faith in Fifa and our initiative Football For a Better Future in particular the Win in Africa with Africa programme we launched yesterday."