DEKRA Volleyball Sponsoring: Let's do it again!
Author: Joachim Geiger
DEKRA is backing strong and powerful female players in professional volleyball as part of their sports sponsorship. The aim behind this commitment is to open up the expert organization's technical working world more for women. But how exactly does this sponsorship work? And how do you reach the female target group?
“Sports sponsorship can only really be successful if credibility is given,” Thomas Dörr, Sponsorship and Marketing Expert at DEKRA Automobil, explains. The company's own brand, the sponsored sport and the objectives of the sponsorship have to be a strong match. That's why DEKRA now relies on strong and impactful women when it comes to sports sponsorship – since November 2022, the expert organization has been an official partner of the Women's Volleyball Bundesliga, i.e. the German National League, namely the 1st Bundesliga, the 2nd Bundesliga Pro and the North and South leagues. The focus of this sponsorship is on the referees, who ensure that the matches run smoothly. The contractual partner is the Volleyball Bundesliga (VBL), which is responsible for match operations, marketing and licensing of the volleyball license leagues of the German Volleyball Association (DVV).
DEKRA extends sponsorship agreement until 2025/2026
“With over 30 locations in the German federal states, the Women's Volleyball Bundesliga offers an attractive platform to position our brand,” Thomas Dörr, who also plays for VfL Sindelfingen in the regional volleyball league, explains. However, his professional focus is on the top division: “The women's 1st Bundesliga is a professionally organized league that has set its sights on catching up with the top European teams from Italy, Turkey and Poland in the coming years,” reports Dörr. The fact that DEKRA extended its sponsorship agreement with the VBL in August 2024 until the end of the 2025/26 season is certainly also partly down to him. The 31-year-old is a passionate volleyball player and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) degree with a focus on sports management; he can look back on a long career in professional volleyball as a team manager and competitive sports coordinator in Baden-Württemberg and as a national base manager.
Clever sports marketing to particularly cater to the female target group
“With our sponsorship, we want to focus on the topic of diversity,” explains Thomas Dörr, who is currently primarily occupied with the practical implementation of the new sponsorship agreement. DEKRA is keen to open up the predominantly male-occupied expert sector more to women. “We want to encourage women to take up technical professions and promote our company as an attractive employer,” says Dörr. To increase awareness around the DEKRA brand among the female target group, he is pulling out all the stops in sports marketing. He is responsible, among other things, for the templates for advertising material, as well as the concepts for the perimeter spots on the LED displays in the gyms, which allow DEKRA to advertise topics like general inspections, career and trainings for a certain number of minutes.
DEKRA focuses on the referees
An important area of work for Thomas Dörr in terms of sports marketing is the relevant TV coverage of the first and second leagues as well as the DVV Cup and Supercup. This is where DEKRA can showcase as a co-presenter for the TV broadcast in a short interlude prior to the match. As the broadcasters show more than 30 games per season, the coverage generates a lot of additional reach for the sponsorship. Of course, the match referees should also benefit from the public's attention – after all, they are the focus of the sponsorship. Naturally, DEKRA also invests in the equipment of the referees: They wear their green shirts with large DEKRA lettering on the chest and back at all matches. They also communicate with each other on the pitch using headsets provided by DEKRA – the clubs simply have to provide the appropriate infrastructure for communication.
DEKRA is launching a new video series about the work of referees
“Every game needs an independent, competent and neutral referee,” explains Thomas Dörr. He sees this set of values as the greatest overlap between DEKRA and the volleyball referees. “All of these values also define our own expertise as an internationally active expert organization,” says Dörr, who is also breaking new ground to present his clientele in the best way possible. A new video series is one approach to this, which will be released on DEKRA's YouTube channel as part of the Volleyball Supercup and will shed light on the complex work of referees before, during and after a match. The first episode is planned for the beginning of December.
The chemistry between the partners in the sponsorship agreement is spot on
How does the partnership between DEKRA and the Volleyball Bundesliga look today? The chemistry between the players is clearly right – both on and off the court. DEKRA provided the Lausitzring as an event location for the VBL's annual general meeting in mid-2023, for example. The central topic of the meeting: defining the strategic goals for the sustainable development of the Volleyball Bundesliga in the coming years. This is another area of interface with DEKRA – together with other specialist departments, Thomas Dörr is currently overseeing a project that aims to evaluate the volleyball cup final in terms of CO2 emissions and how they can be avoided.