Nissan is "throwing in its lot with football, the latest carmaker to devote more of its marketing budget to the game," according to Blitz & Foy of the FINANCIAL TIMES. Nissan CEO Carlos Ghosn will this week announce "another high-profile football sponsorship deal -- its third in four months -- to position itself closer to the activity that most excites its customers: not motorsport, but football." In April, Ghosn signed off on Nissan's four-year deal with the Champions League, which is worth "in the region of" €400M ($545M). In May, Man City holding company City Football Group took a "minority stake in Yokohama F Marinos," the J.League club founded by Nissan. The latest deal, the details of which will be unveiled on Thursday, "fits into a strategy drawn up more than two years ago to ditch some areas of marketing activity, including motorsports in Europe," and cycling and marathon running in the U.S., to "focus more on football." Nissan Global Marketing Head Roel de Vries said, "For us, football works. We have to deliver for the fans and we belong there. Our excitement is we manage to play on the main stage." For the world’s carmakers, China is "key to future growth." Football has the "advantage of being as popular with Chinese car buyers as it is in more traditional markets such as Europe" (FT, 7/14).
