-- Exclusive tire partner and official sponsor aims to facilitate football passion all over the APAC region under the theme of "Thrill of Technique"

-- Campaigns will be the Conti-Footie App, Conti-Balloon, Fan of The Match and 12th Person


SHANGHAI, Jan. 12, 2015 (Antara/PRNewswire) -- The AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015 kicked off on Friday, January 9th in Melbourne. As the exclusive tire partner and official sponsor for the AFC Asian Cup Australia 2015, Continental Tires has launched a series of campaigns to facilitate and raise football passion all over the APAC region under the theme of "Thrill of Technique". "Football, the world's number one sport, encompasses passion, techniques and the spirit of teamwork, which all characterize Continental Tires' brand DNA perfectly. With a long history of football sponsoring all over the world, Continental Tires shows its commitment to football and will continuously communicate through this platform," said Antonio Lopes de Seabra, Executive Vice President of Continentals Business Unit Replacement APAC, Passenger and Light Truck Tires.

Conti-Footie App

To engage consumers during the event in a fun way, Continental Tires encourages fans to share their football passion with friends on social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Line or WeChat. With the insight of football fans' preferences for star posters and postcards, as well as the booming trend towards selfies, a DIY footie app has been designed and launched now in China, Korea and Japan. The DIY footie app allows consumer to take a selfie and choose one pre-designed template out of 80 with diversified styles, themes and football player positions. A postcard image with consumers' own faces are generated automatically. If one consumer shares this image on his or her social SNS and gets ten+ likes from friends, the designed postcard will be printed out and sent to this fan as a souvenir.

Conti-Balloon

Hot air balloons will fly in five major match cities in Australia: Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Gold Coast and Brisbane. Big orange hot air balloons marked with AFC and Continental Tires' logo floating in the blue sky are to celebrate this football festival in the APAC region. Apart from the Conti-Football Balloon, there will also be Conti-buses shuttling on streets of the match cities. Further activities will take place during the matches to fuel football passion from the fans like the Conti-Challenge in the fan zone, Fan Of the Match and Player Escort.

12th Person

As a four-year sponsoring partner of China's National Team, Continental Tires China wants to leverage the 2015 Asian Cup to connect the positive emotion of football fans with the premium tire brand Continental and to increase its brand awareness. The "12th person" campaign was initiated with the idea of "searching for the 12th person for Team China" and invitesfans to cheer for Team China during the 2015 Asian Cup. Football fans will be addressed mainly through digital platforms while the winner will fly to Australia to see Team China play.

"Fans all over the world are passionate about football players' skills and precision.Similarly, Continental Tires has top performance regarding braking, handling and cornering for your ride based on leading tire technology engineered in Germany. Therefore, technique is the perfect linkage between tires and football," said Jing Wang-Winter, Marketing Director, Continental Business Unit Replacement Asia Pacific, Passenger and Light Truck Tires.

Continental AG
Continental develops intelligent technologies for transporting people and their goods. As a reliable partner, the international tire manufacturer, automotive supplier, and industrial partner provides sustainable, safe, comfortable, individual, and affordable solutions. In 2013, the corporation generated sales of approximately EUR33.3 billion with its five divisions, Chassis & Safety, Interior, Powertrain, Tires, and ContiTech. Continental currently employs around 189,000 people in 49 countries.
www.continental-corporation.com

Tire division
The Tire division currently has 24 production and development locations worldwide. The broad product range and continuous investments in R&D make a major contribution to cost-effective and ecologically efficient mobility. As one of the world's leading tire manufacturers, with more than 44,000 employees, the Tire division achieved sales of EUR9.6 billion in 2013.

Passenger Car and Light Truck Tires
Continental is one of Europe's leading passenger car and light truck tire manufacturers and is the world's fourth-largest passenger car and light truck tire manufacturer in the original equipment and replacement business sectors. The product development focus of the Continental premium brand is to optimize all safety-relevant characteristics, while simultaneously minimizing rolling resistance.
www.continental-tires.com

Sponsorship
Continental's Tire division is an official sponsor of the German DFB Cup, Major League Soccer in the U.S.A. and Canada, the 2015 Asian Cup in Australia, and UEFA EURO 2016TM in France.
www.ContiSoccerWorld.com

Media database
www.mediacenter.continental-corporation.com

For more information of Continental, please visit www.continental-tires.cn.

Photo - http://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20150112/0861500213

Reporter: PR Wire
Editor: PR Wire
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