AKRON (Nov. 18, 2011) — Continental Tire the Americas and Hankook Tire America Corp. are both going ballin' — basketballin' — for brand exposure.
Both companies, citing the popularity of college basketball, have struck sponsorship deals with a number of men's college basketball tournaments in November and December.
Neither company disclosed financial details of its sponsorship.
Conti will the title sponsor for the Las Vegas Invitational Nov. 25-26 and the Las Vegas Classic Dec. 22-23 — both at Las Vegas' Orleans Arena — whereas Hankook will become a courtside advertiser for nine college basketball tournaments.
The 11th annual Las Vegas Invitational will feature top-ranked University of North Carolina (UNC), University of Nevada Las Vegas, University of South Carolina, University of Southern California, Morgan State, Cal-Poly, Mississippi Valley State and Tennessee State.
The Las Vegas Classic will host University of West Virginia, Baylor University, St. Mary's College, Missouri State, Bethune Cookman University, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Kennesaw State and Tennessee Tech.
Conti, which already is involved in sponsoring sports teams at UNC and Duke University, did not give television viewing information.
Hankook Tire will have signage courtside at eight more tournaments coming up:
- CBE Classic, Sprint Center, Kansas City, Mo., Nov. 21-22;
- Direct TV Charleston Classic, TD Arena, Charleston, S.C., Nov. 17-20;
- 5-Hour Energy Puerto Rico Tip Off, Coliseo de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Nov. 17-20;
- Ticket City Legends Classic, Izod Center, East Rutherford, N.J., Nov. 19-21;
- Maui Invitational, Lahaina Civic Center, Maui, Hawaii, Nov. 11-23;
- Jimmy V Classic, Madison Square Garden, New York City, Dec. 6;
- NIT-Season Tip Off, Madison Square Garden, New York City, Nov. 23-25;
The tournaments will be broadcast nationwide on multiple television networks, Hankook said, ensuring brand exposure.