A perfect partnership
Evonik and Borussia Dortmund (BVB) are a good team, both on and off the playing field
The specialty chemicals company and the soccer club have enjoyed a special partnership since 2006. BVB has helped to make the company’s new name—Evonik— well-known throughout the world. Borussia Dortmund is the soccer club with the largest average number of stadium spectators in the world. On average, more than 80,000 people attend every league game of this team with its distinctive black-and-yellow jerseys, and millions of soccer fans in many countries follow the games. Evonik, in turn, brings its creativity into play on behalf of BVB, with original ads and spots that have won a number of awards and acquired cult status among many fans.
The chemicals company from Essen and the soccer club from Dortmund complement each other perfectly: Evonik stands for creativity, BVB for intense emotions. The Evonik Soccer Academy of BVB is a joint project that has been very successful. Ever since 2011, it has honed the athletic skills of more than 12,000 children on three continents every year, as well as fostering team spirit and healthy nutrition. Evonik is the Academy’s main sponsor. Since 2014 it has also been a shareholder in BVB, the only soccer club in Germany that is listed on the stock exchange. That’s an additional long-term bond with Borussia Dortmund.
A collector's item
Borussia Dortmund’s motto is “Echte Liebe” (True love). If you want to understand what that means, you can do one of two things: either go to a BVB home game or take a look at the ads Evonik has created to support the club. These ads use humor to show how the passion BVB fans feel for their club is manifested in everyday life. All of the ads for the seasons from 2008/09 to 2018/19 have now been compiled in a book. The ads are supplemented by texts and quotations from BVB players and fans. Prominent figures including Marco Reus, Mario Götze, Jürgen Klopp, Friedrich Küppersbusch, Monika Maron, and Joachim Król, as well as BVB fans from all over the world, have selected their favorite ads and told the personal stories they associate with them. The book’s title is Echte Liebesgeschichten. Die Anzeigen der legendären Evonik- Kampagne für den BVB (True Love Stories: The ads from the legendary Evonik campaign for BVB) (Piper Verlag; €19.09).
