Toyota To Support University Of Michigan Athletics For 2013-14

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Nov 01, 2013, 03:32 ET

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Nov. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Toyota recently signed a one-year deal with IMG College, LLC, establishing a sponsorship between the automaker and the University of Michigan Athletic Department.

Spanning the 2013-14 school year, the contract involves promotional opportunities through the remainder of the football campaign, as well as men's basketball and ice hockey seasons. All three sports will involve radio and Internet promotions for Toyota. During the hockey season, Toyota will sponsor a "Power Play Community Donation" program, with the company donating $250 for each Wolverine power play goal to FIRST Robotics of Michigan.

Toyota, which has a large technical center near Michigan's Ann Arbor campus, employs approximately 1,200 employees in the region – with many of them Michigan alumni.

"The Toyota Technical Center is a long-time supporter and partner of the University of Michigan, particularly its engineering program," said Jeff Makarewicz, Vice President of the Corporate Strategy Office at Toyota Technical Center. "This sponsorship allows us to remind Michiganians of our large, supportive presence in the state, while assisting local school children through FIRST Robotics of Michigan."

"We are pleased to partner with another Ann Arbor-based business in Toyota," said Hunter Lochmann, Chief Marketing Officer for the University of Michigan Athletic Department. "Both Toyota and Michigan Athletics share a long history of supporting the Ann Arbor community, and we are excited that this partnership will support FIRST Robotics of Michigan through the Power Play Community Donation program."

About IMG
IMG Worldwide is a global sports, fashion and media business, with 3,500 employees operating in more than 30 countries around the globe. IMG's areas of expertise are diverse and wide ranging: IMG College is the leader in collegiate marketing, licensing and media rights. IMG's Joint Ventures, IMG Reliance, IMX, IMG CCTV and IMG Dogus in the emerging markets of India, Brazil, China and Turkey, offer the company significant long-term growth opportunities. IMG Media is the world's largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming. IMG Events and Federations owns and manages some of the most sought after events and includes long standing associations with the world's most important sports organizations, leagues, and federations. IMG Fashion owns and operates fashion events around the world and IMG Models represents the world's top models and leading designers. IMG Art+Commerce represents the most influential photographers, art directors and stylists.

For the past 50 years, IMG Clients has been the global leader in talent representation, including over 1,000 elite athletes, coaches, industry executives and prestigious sports organizations across the sports, entertainment, fashion and media industries. IMG Tennis and IMG Golf manages the careers of the biggest stars on the court and the green. IMG Performance is aimed at developing sports performance research, products and services that have grown out of the division's world-leading integrated academic and athletic training institution, IMG Academy. IMG Consulting connects many of the world's leading brands with consumers through access to unique sports and entertainment properties. IMG Licensing is considered one of the premier independent licensing companies in the sports, fashion and media world.

About FIRST Robotics
The FIRST Robotics Competition combines the excitement of a varsity sport with hands-on training in science and technology to help high school students discover how rewarding a career in engineering or technology can be. Remote-controlled robots, piloted by students and cheered on by thousands of screaming fans, go head-to-head in short games on the floor of a sports arena, battling it out to earn points during a two-minute round.

Students on FIRST teams learn from and play with the "pros" - professional engineers who donate their time to work side-by-side with students to help design and build the sophisticated competition robots. This gives FIRST students an insider's view of a career in science, engineering and technology not possible in a normal classroom setting. Plus, unlike other high school athletics, every student on a FIRST robotics team has a chance to turn "pro." For more information about FIRST in Michigan, visit www.firstinmichigan.org.

About Toyota
Toyota, the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we've built more than 25 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ nearly 40,000 people (more than 37,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships sold more than 2.3 million cars and trucks in 2012 – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.

Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety and the environment. As part of this commitment, we share the company's extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. (NYSE: TM) For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

SOURCE Toyota