Following up on the FIFA World CupTM fever that swept the globe this summer, the Australian Open 2011 will be held in Melbourne in January 2011.
The Australian Open is one of the four major tennis tournaments and boasts a tradition of more than 100 years. In contrast to the FIFA World CupTM which has multiple major sponsors, Kia Motors has been the sole major sponsor of the Australian Open since 2002. This is why it presents a good opportunity to share Kia’s unique appeal with many people worldwide.
As the person in charge of the Kia Amateur Australian Open (KAAO), which is part of our global marketing program related to the Australian Open, I am especially excited about this year’s tournament. An annual competition held around the world, KAAO is one of Kia’s key customer events and will be entering its eighth year. The men’s and women’s champions of each participating nation are selected through local tournaments in 16 countries. The champions are then invited to Australia for the KAAO World Final. They also receive tickets to see matches at the Australian Open. KAAO gives participants a chance to directly experience the “Exciting & Enabling” values of Kia.

Fifteen countries will be taking part in the 2011 KAAO and preliminary matches are currently underway. The 15 include five in Europe (Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Poland, France), one in North America (US), one in Latin America (Chile), four in Africa & the Middle East (Nigeria, South Africa, Libya, Jordan), and four in Asia-Pacific (New Zealand, China, Korea, Australia). KAAO is especially popular in France, which has been a participant for seven years. At last year’s French preliminaries, held in conjunction with the National Tennis Club, about 35,000 players (or 17,500 teams) battled it out over a period of four months.
A wide range of promotional events for customers such as Kia Lucky Drive to Australia (KLDTA) and Experience Kia are taking place in 24 countries including the US, Germany, UK, Spain, Russia, Singapore and China.
On December 7, 2010 Kia Motors Corporation introduced an online Facebook campaign for their fans to compete for an all expense paid trip to the Australian Open 2011, during the company’s tenth year as the major sponsor of the tennis Grand Slam event. Kia fans are asked to share their stories, photos and videos of their fondest memories involving a car through the Kia Smile application under the Australian Open tab on the company’s fan page, www.facebook.com/kiamotors.
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