Virgin Radio's World Cup deal

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Hyundai will be sponsoring World Cup fever on Virgin Radio in an extensive mix of promotions, competitions and live trails to really connect with the station's football-mad national audience.

The car manufacturer will feature prominently in all the station's programming throughout the World Cup and its build-up so that Virgin Radio listeners recognise Hyundai as the absolute authority on the World Cup. This activity supports Hyundai's "Drive Your Way" marketing initiative and its position as an Official FIFA Partner sponsoring the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.
The campaign starts on May 1st with pre-promotions and live on-air trails encouraging listeners to register on a customised Hyundai-branded microsite at virginradio.co.uk so that they can take part in "Drive Your Way" related competitions and giveaways during the World Cup. These trails are all included in the station's football coverage to engage listener interest.

All sports bulletins in the Breakfast and Drivetime Shows will be Hyundai branded to stand-out to an audience that's listening intently for the very latest football news. In addition, multi-Sony Award winning DJ Christian O'Connell will run daily Breakfast Show promotions during the first week of the World Cup. These "Drive Your Way" competitions will see a lucky listener win a once-in-a-lifetime World Cup experience - chauffeur-driven in a branded Hyundai to see a match in Germany, with their very own new Hyundai waiting for them at home.

On-air giveaways will continue throughout the whole tournament with a "Ticket to Drive" promotion on the Russ Williams and Neil Francis
daytime shows. Each day, a competition will see a listener whisked off in a Hyundai to the next day's World Cup game.

All on-air activity will be supported by the Hyundai-branded microsite on the award-winning Virgin Radio website. This site is live for 10 weeks and includes sales-led features including a dealership locator, links to the Hyundai website and inclusion on Virgin Radio's weekly opt-in newsletter which goes out to over 200,000 subscribers.

"Virgin Radio delivers the ideal national audience for us to really connect with during World Cup fever," said Jim Campbell, Marketing Director at Hyundai. "We're proud to be an Official FIFA Partner sponsoring the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, and see this extensive partnership with Virgin Radio as the perfect way to ensure we're well positioned throughout the World Cup."

The deal has been negotiated by Drum PHD on behalf of Hyundai. "The radio partnership with Virgin Radio lets us credibly integrate Hyundai
with every part of Virgin Radio's offering," said Dave Roberts, Head of Radio at Drum.

"I'm delighted that Hyundai will be Virgin Radio's official World Cup coverage sponsor. The creative way that Hyundai is being embedded in all
of our World Cup programming will mean that our millions of listeners recognise Hyundai as the brand associated with World Cup fever," said
Nick Hewat, Sales Director at Virgin Radio. "We've developed a unique package with Hyundai so that our audience will be listening hard for their next Hyundai-branded news bulletin or once-in-a-lifetime competition to go to Germany."