Manchester United, PepsiCo Agree To Asia-Pacific Regional Sponsorship

ManU and PepsiCo announced a multi-year sponsorship agreement in the Asia-Pacific region on Wednesday. PepsiCo will become the official soft drink partner of ManU in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Brunei. PepsiCo will hold exclusive rights to use ManU branding on its products within these markets (ManU). ManU, which "did not give a value for the deal," said that it has "a combined fan base of more than 38 million consumers in the seven countries, and claims to have over 650 million followers worldwide" (REUTERS, 7/31). In Manchester, Shelina Begum reported PepsiCo "is the latest in a raft of sponsors to have been signed up by United," including Russian airline Aeroflot, Thai telecom firm True Corporation, Mexican banking group INVEX, Vietnamese bank BIDV, British risk management group AON and U.S. car manufacturer General Motors (MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS, 7/31).