Axiata makes $2m badminton play

AXIATA GROUP BERHAD, one of Asia’s largest telecommunications companies, will title sponsor a new badminton team competition sanctioned by the Badminton Asia Confederation (BAC) and organised by Total Sports Asia, worth US$1m in prize money.

The four-week Axiata Cup tournament, starting March 23, will be held at two venues in Malaysia and Indonesia and will feature some of the world’s top players.

On top of the prize money costs, Frontloaded understands that the title sponsor will invest an additional US$1m in production and staging costs, an investment which does not include Axiata’s own activation and promotions programme.

The key decision-makers in the launch of the new event were Dato’ Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim, president & group chief executive officer, Axiata Group, and Marcus Luer, TSA’s Group CEO.

 

The key negotiators were Andy Chong for Axiata and James White for Total Sports Asia.

“We are making this investment because badminton has huge appeal amongst our customers across the region and the title sponsorship of such a major global event will help grow the Axiata brand”, said Axiata’s Dato’ Sri Jamaludin Ibrahim. “We have been searching for the right opportunity to get into sport and we are confident that with this event, we have now found it.”

“It’s time that badminton upped its game and shows the world that there is more value in the sport than is currently being realized,” said Marcus Luer. “Working with cutting edge technologies such as Virtual Advertising will allow brands to interact in a more meaningful way with the sport without bothering play on the court. It’s a win-win situation.”

Participating nations in the inaugural competition include Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines, however each team is also allowed to field up to two foreign “parties” (singles or doubles players) who are required to be from outside the ASEAN region.

 

By Matthew Glendinning

matthewg@sportbusiness.com