ATP Tour World Championship

November 29, 1998

Mark Miles

Dr. Joachim Schmidt

GRAEME AGARS: Ladies and Gentlemen, I'd like to welcome you here officially to this press conference this morning and thank you for coming. I'd like to introduce two people to you Dr. Joachim Schmidt, the Senior Vice President of Sales for Mercedes-Benz, and of course you all recognize the CEO of the ATP Tour, Mark Miles. Before handing across to those two gentlemen for announcements this morning, I'd like to briefly show you what Mercedes-Benz and the ATP Tour together have accomplished during the initial period of their contract. If you'd like to look at the two screens, you'll see a brief video representation of what this partnership has provided so far. (Video shown.) I'd like to now present to you the CEO of the ATP Tour, Mark Miles.

MARK MILES: Thank you. I'm delighted to be here today under the light that's reflecting from the star behind us. We think the past three years' collaboration between the ATP Tour and Mercedes-Benz has been an enormously successful sponsorship program, in many respects a model for sports marketing in this era. As you know, over the past three years, Mercedes-Benz has been the official car of the ATP Tour, the premiere sponsor of the World Championships, the title sponsor of our elite series, the Mercedes Super 9 tournaments, and in every respect I think the perfect partner for the worldwide men's professional circuit. Today we are delighted to announce we are extending this sponsorship relationship, this partnership, for three years, which is to say for the years 2000, 2001, 2002. In the future, the relationship will be very similar. Mercedes-Benz will continue to be the official car of the Tour, the presenting sponsor of our elite series, which, as you know, we're working on some branding, and we'll have subsequent announcements about how exactly that might be put forward. They will continue to be the premier sponsor of our World Championships and the closest to our heart in every way. We think this is really a perfect marriage. Mercedes-Benz to the world means one of the very most - if not the most - prestigious brand, certainly global, certainly standing for quality and excellence in their products and in their organization. They've certainly demonstrated that to us. We think that the tennis fan and the ATP Tour match up well as an opportunity for Mercedes to continue to extend its sports marketing presence globally. They provide enormous service, as many in the public will see. Some of you see it and benefit from it, all of us who have appreciated the luxury and the comfort of Mercedes car service as well, from tournament to tournament. Certainly the players, and the guests at our tournaments have appreciated it over the years. Just one more of the very fundamental ways that they make an important contribution. We're delighted to be able to make this announcement today, and could not be more excited about our future collaboration.

DR. SCHMIDT: Thank you, Mark. Ladies and Gentlemen, good morning. Let me just add this. We have been the premiere sponsor of the ATP Tour for three years, and this has been symbolized in three years by a couple of things like the Mercedes star in the tennis net, our cars have been the official cars at ATP Tour events, product placement by inviting clients and by being present at 60 tournaments over the year globally. This really fits with our image of being a global player and is almost an ideal model of sports marketing in our view, too. It has been an extremely successful concept in a very multi-faceted way, because the experts have decided to give us the sponsoring award this year. As far as the public opinion is concerned, market research shows that our commitment in tennis is absolutely known, has a very high level of awareness, has been accepted and has been described as being extremely credible, which means that tennis and Mercedes-Benz cars fit perfectly well together. This acceptance also extends - and this is very important to us - to our worldwide sales organization and our clients. Of course, it would be very nice after Michael Stich and Boris Becker to have again a German player in the Top 10, have again a great German tennis star. This is why, in addition to our ATP Tour commitment, we have had this cooperation by way of the Mercedes-Benz junior team for two years now. We very much hope to be able to have another young star among the top players, say within the time frame of five to ten years. But I have to add, Ladies and Gentlemen, it's very obvious that if you do not have one of these top stars in Germany, you have one or a couple of them in other countries. This fits our intention very well, because we want to be a truly global corporation and a global player. We are very excited and pleased to see the way Tim Henman is accepted in England, or Carlos Moya, Alex Corretja, Kuerten in Brazil, Rios in Chile, because these are all extremely important markets for our company. These players not only have a lot of success at home, but are also extremely popular, which is very good for our effort for our commitment and our brand. Let me wind up and say that we are extremely satisfied with this partnership, and so it was extremely easy for us to enter negotiations about extending this cooperation with the ATP Tour. As we all know, nothing is perfect in life; we could see a lot of room for improvement. This is exactly what we are trying to do this week in terms of sport and in terms of marketing. We are entirely behind this partnership, and this is why it gives me so much pleasure to have this official ceremony today to extend this partnership with the ATP Tour.

DR. SCHMIDT: First talking about the ranking, there will be a lot more transparency for the public because the ranking we get every year will start from the beginning of the year. The second point in terms of sports would be that we would wish to see a better presence at major tournaments, so maybe the players might be committed to play and be present at certain tournaments. This would be something very important. As far as marketing is concerned, we are, of course, mainly talking about television marketing. Cooperation with international top agencies is intended to make certain at the end of the day, the television ratings are going to be improved.

DR. SCHMIDT: We don't have it negotiated so far (laughter).

MARK MILES: I think it's safe to say the ink is now dry. No, we have not changed that part of our relationship. I should take one second to welcome our friends, the ownership and management of the ISL agency who are here with us in the back of the room. Thank you for being here.

DR. SCHMIDT: We believe that a sport like tennis - and, by the way, also like football - should not be only accessible through pay TV.

MARK MILES: I have one correction. I realize I've committed one faux-pas this morning. I introduced our friends from ISL. I now see the president of Octagon is here, as well. Sorry, Frank.

DR. SCHMIDT: I think you are not very surprised that I don't say anything about money.

DR. SCHMIDT: If I don't say anything, then I also don't say increase, decrease or stable, sorry. I think we have a good contract. Both sides are happy.

GRAEME AGARS: I might now invite the photographers to step outside the interview room to the Mercedes that's been gracing the foyer area all week. Mark Miles and Dr. Schmidt will be out there for some photos while we prepare for the second press conference. Thank you.

End of FastScripts….