Coca-Cola providing healthy lifestyle through sports, says Tolga Cebe Vice President and General Manager, Middle East
Multinational beverage corporation has held partnership with FIFA since 1970s
Dubai: Coca-Cola believes sport has the unique potential to bring the world together. The company has had stadium advertising at every FIFA World Cup since 1950 and has been an official FIFA World Cup sponsor since 1978. It is a long-standing relationship and the aim is to make a positive difference in the communities it serves.
During the FIFA World Cup trophy tour by Coca-Cola in Dubai, Gulf News had an exclusive chat with Tolga Cebe, Vice President and General Manager, Coca-Cola Middle East. He believes the multinational beverage corporation is making a positive impact especially through sport.
“The biggest platform for us for a healthy lifestyle is sports and we are trying to promote the spirit of it. If you think about sports in general it brings nations and communities together while providing a healthy lifestyle and that is one of the reasons we have a very long lasting partnership with FIFA since the 1970s and unique programmes like the World Cup trophy tour we try to recreate that inspiration among the masses the ability to actually see most iconic trophy in the world from the most anticipated sports event.”
51 countries
The tour will see the iconic trophy visit 51 countries and territories before it makes its way to Qatar for the November tournament. It will visit all 32 countries that qualified for the FIFA World Cup, inspiring fans across the world through exclusive consumer experiences.
The tournament is taking place in a Muslim country for the first time, and Cebe believes interesting stories will emerge in the region. “The FIFA World Cup trophy tour this year has a special meaning for the region because it is going to be kicked off in the Middle East starting here in the UAE and then it is going to visit Bahrain, Oman, Lebanon, Kuwait and after Saudi Arabia it’s going to stop in Qatar so we really want to see what interesting stories emerge from the Middle East through this activation.”