Acer and Barcelona team up

Here's an interesting story for all you sports fans out there. I found it in the Sunday Times last week-end but only now have I been able to track it down online.

It’s not the easiest of sites to navigate and the link above may well take you to the home page but if you make it to the Business section and pull down the drop-down menu, you should find it there.

What’s the story??

Acer has entered into a multi-million pound sponsorship deal with FC Barcelona.

Similar to Acer’s Gold Partner sponsorship of F. C. Internazionale Milano – Inter, this deal will give Acer exclusive rights to pitch-side advertising at Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium.

In the article, Gianpiero Morbello, Acer’s UK managing director, says that “the arrangements would be in place in time for Barcelona’s next Champions’ League match”.

This is aggressive brand placement. In the sports world, Acer’s got sponsorship deals with some of the world’s leading teams, including Ferrari, Inter (in Italian) and now Barcelona, not to mention Acer’s ties with Women's World Cup golfing tournament in South Africa and Acer's involvement in the Acer Girls Golf Program.

Sport is part of the Acer ethos. The competitive pursuit of maximum results has driven Acer from one success to another, and is just one of the reasons Acer is becoming so popular the world across.

However it’s not just sport that absorbs all of Acer’s sponsorship energy. “Building Bridges Between the High-Tech and Artistic Worlds” is the introduction you’ll find on the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre website, demonstrating that Acer’s sponsorship interests go beyond the most obvious, ROI-friendly choices. Acer was also Sponsor of the 2006 Tour in China of Milan’s world-famous La Scala theatre.

But this piece is about football. Football’s another story and Barça is on another level entirely. MÉS QUE UN CLUB!

One important addition to this post is that alongside several other charitable initiatives, FC Barcelona has made a commitment to Unicef’s humanitarian aid programs through the donation of one and a half million euros for the next five years. This is why the team players now wear the Unicef logo on their shirts.