In an illustration of the advertising power a successful Tour de France can bring, the Ag2r La Mondiale team has announced that it earned the equivalent of 60 million euros worth of publicity during this year’s race.
The team held the yellow jersey for eight stages thanks to the GC success of Italian rider Rinaldo Nocentini, and also benefited from the aggressive performances by riders such as Nicolas Roche, who took second, fourth, eighth, eighth and tenth on stages.
A survey conducted by Occurrence on behalf of Ag2r La Mondiale showed that the media coverage reached 2.5 million people in July 2009, with 43% of that coming from audiovisual media, 33% from internet coverage and 24% from print journalism.
It was estimated that this was worth that total of 60 million euros, almost a doubling of the 2009 value of 35 million euro.
The Tour de France campaign was an important one for Vincent Lavenu’s team, as Ag2r La Mondiale’s brand underwent a redesign this year and the team switched to new colours immediately before the Tour.
"The emergence of new jerseys promoted the visibility of our new brand,” said CEO André Renaudin. “Fortunately, the taking the yellow jersey by our rider Rinaldo Nocentini and solidarity of our cycling team have given our brand a remarkable media exposure.”
The released figures are not only important for Ag2r La Mondiale, but also for cycling in general. They underline the power of brand exposure in races such as the Tour, and provide further incentive for other backers to get involved in the sport.