Kuhan Foo, previous head of operations at Total Sports Asia, has been tapped to lead the new office as general manager. Foo previously worked on AirAsia’s sponsorship of Manchester United. At Havas Sports, Foo will develop strategic and creative solutions surrounding sports sponsorship programs.
“These are exciting times for sports marketing in the region. Love it or hate it, sports forms an immediate emotional bond with the average person on the street. Havas Sports will bring in a fresh approach to sports marketing to enable companies in the region to embrace sports as a key marketing tool,” he said.
In addition to AirAsia, Havas Sport will also be handling sister airline AirAsia X, a long-haul budget airline owned by Fly Asian Express. The company is partly-owned by Tony Fernandes, AirAsia’s CEO. AirAsia X is expected to launch its maiden flight end-October.
Currently, the Malaysian operation has two full-time staffers, including Foo, but the number is likely to double by the end of 2008, he added. Havas Sports is eyeing new business from Singapore and Indonesia, but these will be managed out of Malaysia. It first launched in Asia-Pacific last year, through offices in China and India.
“We are not looking at massive manpower, but keeping the operations lean. Malaysia was chosen because it makes it convenient for us to service the AirAsia account. Also, we find that Malaysia, as a whole, is quite active when it comes to sports events and marketing,” Foo explained.
Sports marketing and advertising is likely to increase over the next two years, boosted by the Beijing 2008 Olympics Games. Over US$3 billion in worldwide adspend will be generated by the games next year, according to ZenithOptimedia, which notes that almost of third of the figure will be spent in China. Total Sports Asia, meanwhile, forecasts that sports marketing will hit US$18 million - growth of 20 per cent - in 2008.
Additional reporting by Sara Yin