BKT takes to the Serie B football fields. Through 2021, the Indian multinational will be the Title Sponsor of the Italian National Pro B League. We spoke with Lucia Salmaso, Managing Director of the BKT European Headquarters, who explained what has motivated the corporation to sponsor this championship, now going by the name of “Serie BKT”. PASSION AND DRIVEWhat are the reasons for your choice to support Italian football? And as Title Sponsor, no less?Football has always been the best loved sport in Italy. It is the quintessential Italian sport. Kids grow up in Italy living and breathing football. We want to dedicate all our strength to supporting this magical world because it brings us so much closer to our final users, and particularly to farmers, who are—like most Italians—diehard football fans. So I am very pleased and honoured by this new partnership, which allows us to “deploy” in Italy, where our European headquarters is located.Drive and the will to win, core values also in the business world, are always a matter of team spirit and teamwork. What do BKT and the Serie B have in common?First and foremost, passion, drive, competitive spirit, and the will to win. Because for BKT as well, the thing that counts is teamwork: no one wins a championship alone. And then when we consider the fact that the B League is a seedbed of talent, breeding the stars who will ply the fields of the world’s premier championships, we can say that BKT plays the same role within its reference market. Reaching one goal after another is written deep in our genes, expressed through one of the world’s most sophisticated R&D departments, the reliability of our “players”, and our determination to achieve excellence in every field (and now the playing field as well). FOOTBALL IN OUR SOULWe know that you have long been enthusiastic football fans…Football is deeply ingrained in our soul. That is why we have invited Iya Traoré to be our official special guest at our main world events. He is the king of freestyle football. His stunts have earned him three Guinness World Records. Iya’s performances ignite the passions of the audience and leave his fans speechless at every every event where BKT takes part. SCORING GOALSEvery team has one overriding objective: to win, using all means at their disposal.Is this your objective for the Serie BKT?Obviously, how could it be otherwise? We are very competitive in “our championship”. The Serie BKT fits in perfectly with our strategy and our game plan. Let us say that our primary objective is the podium of fame—that of our brand, of course. From now on we will be highly visible in all B League stadiums, both on the field and in the stands, on television broadcasts and promotional initiatives associated with the championship, establishing a bond with a very broad fan base.The new “SERIE BKT” fits perfectly into our marketing and communication strategy, where the objective has always been to increase brand awareness. OUR HEARTS BEAT FOR SPORTSAre you fans of other sports, other than football?We are true sports fans in the broad sense. Since 2013 we have been one of the sponsors of the Monster Jam, the famous American monster truck show featuring breath-taking acrobatic stunts performed, naturally, using BKT tires.Another initiative that we are proud to have been part of is the recent XTractor Around the World in South Africa, a fifty-day expedition where McCormick tractors outfitted with BKT tires covered nearly 8,000 kilometres of challenging terrain.A LOOK TO THE FUTUREWhat does the future hold in store for you?We are exploring various other game tactics and projects that I believe will see us scoring goals on both the playing field and the balance sheet. Like any athlete, we in BKT have a hard time sitting still. But for the moment everything remains top secret.