Garuda Food expects sales boost from PSG deal

JAKARTA. Major food and beverage producer Garuda Food expects that its recent promotional partnership with French soccer club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) will boost its sales tremendously, a company executive has said.

The firm and the club signed a one-year agreement last week that will allow Garuda Food’s energy drink Super O2 Sportivo to display on its products the images of five star PSG players, namely Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Blaise Matuidi, Thiago Silva, David Luiz and Javier Pastore.

“We doubled our sales last year and we expect a tremendous impact from our partnership with PSG,” Garuda Food director Steve Budihardja told The Jakarta Post.

The partnership will be launched by the beginning of the 2015-2016 sports season, with renewal depending on PSG’s results.

“We have the same goals as PSG and the same values; we are not a huge brand yet but we are aiming to be the best, with perfection and dynamism,” Steve said.

Garuda Food, a privately-owned subsidiary of businessman Su-dhamek AWS’ Tudung Group, sells food and beverages from peanuts to chocolates and tea and coffee-based packaged drinks to milk. Its notable brands include Garuda and Pilus peanuts, Gery chocolate biscuits and Okky jelly drink.

Paris Saint-Germain has 2 million fans on Facebook in Indonesia, said PSG deputy director Frédéric Longuépée, who made the trip to Jakarta to seal the one-year agreement. “That’s as many as in France,” he told the Post.

Paris Saint-Germain has been 100 percent owned since 2012 by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), which provides the club with unprecedented financial support in French football, making it the fifth richest European club according to Deloitte rankings.

“We try to use our successes on the field to activate partnerships and to promote the club globally,” said Longuépée.

He was affirmative about PSG coming to Indonesia to play, “possibly in 2016 or 2017”. He also mentioned the creation of a PSG academy, to train local hopefuls for the global game and charity missions from its foundation, as putative developments of the club in the country.

Business France, the trade commissioning body of the French embassy, helped PSG to further the project and to find a suitable partner in Indonesia.

“PSG staff came three times to Indonesia and we supported them from the beginning in finding [a suitor],” said Jean Philippe Arvert, director of Business France Jakarta. “Indonesia is a market where it takes time to set a deal because you first have to get to know your partner and identify each other’s expectations.” (Arnaud Richard-Ferraro)