Dakar & Emma

In 2015, Emma Safety Footwear will ‘take part’ in the Dakar Rally that starts in Buenos Aires on 4 January. Team Hamer from Apeldoorn, one of the 64 truck teams taking part in the famous desert rally, will be equipped with Emma safety shoes and socks. For two whole weeks (4-17 January), Emma Safety Shoes will be publicised via two huge stickers on Team Hamer's orange Dakar truck. Dutch TV channel RTL7 will be broadcasting daily reports on the Dakar Rally, which Emma will use for a promotion for its employees and dealers in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Pascal Van Ophoven, Emma's marketing manager, admits that he raised his eyebrows when a possible partnership with a Dakar team was first suggested. "Isn't a global event a bit big for our company?" Furthermore, Emma doesn't yet have any direct promotional relationship with motor sports. On the other hand, a relationship with the Dakar Rally will help to reinforce Emma's image: optimum quality, safety and style." The initial doubts gave way to enthusiastic support once it was shown that the Dakar sponsorship partnership was generating a great deal of publicity. This became particularly apparent on 8 November during the RTL GP Dakar Pre-Prologue when Team Hamer introduced itself to no less than 27,000 spectators at the Eurocircuit in Valkenswaard. The same evening, RTL7 broadcast an hour-long report of this race, during which the name of Emma Safety Shoes was regularly featured via Team Hamer's truck. It will also feature on TV frequently during the hellish journey through Argentina, Chile and Bolivia in January 2015, as RTL7 will be broadcasting daily reports on the progress of the Dutch teams. Emma also launched a Dakar promotion for the Netherlands and Belgium that will run during the event.

You can follow Team Hamer's progress via https://www.facebook.com/HamerDakar of http://www.hamerdakar.nl/