ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota recently
signed a one-year deal with IMG College, LLC, establishing a
sponsorship between the automaker and the University of Michigan Athletic Department.
Spanning the 2013-14 school year, the contract involves
promotional opportunities through the remainder of the football
campaign, as well as men's basketball and ice hockey seasons. All
three sports will involve radio and Internet promotions for
Toyota. During the hockey season, Toyota will sponsor a
"Power Play Community Donation" program, with the company donating
$250 for each Wolverine power play
goal to FIRST Robotics of Michigan.
Toyota, which has a large technical center near Michigan's Ann
Arbor campus, employs approximately 1,200 employees in the
region – with many of them Michigan
alumni.
"The Toyota Technical Center is a long-time supporter and
partner of the University of Michigan,
particularly its engineering program," said Jeff Makarewicz, Vice President of the Corporate
Strategy Office at Toyota Technical Center. "This sponsorship
allows us to remind Michiganians of our large, supportive presence
in the state, while assisting local school children through FIRST
Robotics of Michigan."
"We are pleased to partner with another Ann Arbor-based business in Toyota," said
Hunter Lochmann, Chief Marketing
Officer for the University of Michigan
Athletic Department. "Both Toyota and Michigan Athletics share a
long history of supporting the Ann
Arbor community, and we are excited that this partnership
will support FIRST Robotics of Michigan through the Power Play Community
Donation program."
About IMG
IMG Worldwide is a global sports, fashion
and media business, with 3,500 employees operating in more than 30
countries around the globe. IMG's areas of expertise are diverse
and wide ranging: IMG College is the leader in collegiate
marketing, licensing and media rights. IMG's Joint Ventures, IMG
Reliance, IMX, IMG CCTV and IMG Dogus in the emerging markets
of India, Brazil, China
and Turkey, offer the company significant long-term growth
opportunities. IMG Media is the world's largest independent
producer and distributor of sports programming. IMG Events and
Federations owns and manages some of the most sought after events
and includes long standing associations with the world's most
important sports organizations, leagues, and federations. IMG
Fashion owns and operates fashion events around the world and IMG
Models represents the world's top models and leading designers. IMG
Art+Commerce represents the most influential photographers, art
directors and stylists.
For the past 50 years, IMG Clients has been the global leader in
talent representation, including over 1,000 elite athletes,
coaches, industry executives and prestigious sports organizations
across the sports, entertainment, fashion and media industries. IMG
Tennis and IMG Golf manages the careers of the biggest
stars on the court and the green. IMG Performance is aimed at
developing sports performance research, products and services that
have grown out of the division's world-leading integrated academic
and athletic training institution, IMG Academy. IMG Consulting
connects many of the world's leading brands with consumers through
access to unique sports and entertainment properties. IMG Licensing
is considered one of the premier independent licensing companies in
the sports, fashion and media world.
About FIRST Robotics
The FIRST Robotics
Competition combines the excitement of a varsity sport with
hands-on training in science and technology to help high school
students discover how rewarding a career in engineering or
technology can be. Remote-controlled robots, piloted by students
and cheered on by thousands of screaming fans, go head-to-head in
short games on the floor of a sports arena, battling it out to earn
points during a two-minute round.
Students on FIRST teams learn from and play with the
"pros" - professional engineers who donate their time to work
side-by-side with students to help design and build the
sophisticated competition robots. This gives FIRST students
an insider's view of a career in science, engineering and
technology not possible in a normal classroom setting. Plus, unlike
other high school athletics, every student on a FIRST
robotics team has a chance to turn "pro." For more information
about FIRST in Michigan, visit
www.firstinmichigan.org.
About Toyota
Toyota, the world's top automaker and
creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way
people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the
past 50 years, we've built more than 25 million cars and trucks in
North America, where we operate 14
manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ nearly
40,000 people (more than 37,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North
American dealerships sold more than 2.3 million cars and trucks in
2012 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the
past 20 years are still on the road today.
Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the
country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment. As
part of this commitment, we share the company's extensive know-how
garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community
organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good.
(NYSE: TM) For more information about Toyota, visit
www.toyotanewsroom.com.
SOURCE Toyota