OREANDA-NEWS. Vodafone today announced it has concluded a review of its global sponsorship strategy. Key observations from that review include:
ubiquitous (90%+) awareness of the Vodafone brand in all markets where the company operates, with industry-leading brand attraction levels;
changes in customer engagement preferences as the mobile industry continues to evolve with increasingly sophisticated products and services; and
scope to increase investment in a range of new customer engagement platforms, including digital.

In light of these factors, Vodafone intends to transform its local and global sponsorship strategy to deliver an enhanced approach to customer engagement, founded on a new, Vodafone-owned marketing platform, to be developed and implemented throughout 2013.

Vodafone Group Chief Commercial Officer Morten Lundal said: "We've achieved very high levels of recognition and awareness for the Vodafone brand, supported by our investments in sponsorship. We now want to focus on our own marketing engagement platform to showcase the key attributes of our brand directly to our customers, using digital interactions and live events in ways that are both locally relevant and globally consistent."

As part of this evolution, Vodafone will end its engagement with McLaren after the conclusion of the 2013 season. Morten Lundal continued: "We have been very happy with our engagement with McLaren. Our relationship has been a key ingredient in bringing the Vodafone brand to where it is today. However, our brand is evolving, and we've concluded we will have less of a need for this kind of exposure in future. We now look forward to further success and brand engagement with McLaren in 2013."