KIA Motors Becomes Pool's First Modern Car Sponsor

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KIA Motors Becomes Pool's First Modern Car Sponsor

Seoul, Korea- KIA Motors has signed on as the title sponsor of four televised events produced by billiard promotions giant Dragon Promotions. KIA will be title sponsoring Masters of the Trickshot, Showdown in Seoul, and the 4th Annual Korea International Championships,

"I believe this marks the first time in pocket billiards history that a major automobile manufacturer has been involved as a title sponsor. It's a great achievement for not only DP, but for the billiards community in that we have shown that our sport is a viable medium for major advertisers." said Dragon Promotions President Cindy Lee.

KIA is Korea's oldest car company founded in 1944 and in 1998 was acquired by Hyundai Motor Company. Today KIA has expanded into the US with their $1 billion plant in Georgia with KIA Motors America and also KIA Motors Europe based in Germany. KIA is one of Europe's fastest growing car companies and is one of the most improved brands in the J.D. Power and Associates Vehicle Dependability Study.

KIA Motors Showdown in Seoul will consist of two matches first with Semih Sayginer taking on Mike Massey. The King of Carom Magic against the World's Greatest Artistic Pool Champion, in a contest of 9-Ball, 3-cushion, and trickshots. Then female fury in Korea versus Japan with #1 Yu Ram Cha against Miyuki Sakai. The two Asian beauties will battle in 9-Ball, 3-cushion, and 8-Ball.
KIA Motors Masters of the Trickshot will feature the first time ever a trickshot pool team playing against a trickshot carom team, led by captains Mike Massey and Semih Sayginer.
The finale of the star studded pool week will end with the 4th Annual KIA Motors Korea International Championships which will feature players from USA, Europe and Asia vying for the title and prize money in the 9-Ball tournament.


DP will also be hosting a special cocktail party at the W Hotel, Korea's most elite and glamourous hotel. The cocktail party will be a powerhouse of corporate leaders including the CEO of KIA Motors, Gucci Korea, Coca Cola, MBC ESPN, SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System), CYON (Mobile phones), and KT&G (Korea's Largest Tobacco manufacturuer). In all, over 50 companies with a special interest in billiards will be in attendance and entertained by pool's brightest stars including Jeanette Lee, Mika Immonen, Thorsten Hohmann, Yu Ram Cha, Shanelle Loraine, and Charlie Williams.

"This is very exciting for us and our partnership with Dragon Promotions. Bringing KIA & the Hyundai Group on board with billiards is very encouraging to the network and bringing other top sponsors on board." said CJ Media rep Jimmy Go. CJ Media heads 11 TV networks and is a division of Samsung.

Dragon Promotions has proven to be highly successful in involving large corporate sponsors in and outside the billiard industry. Some of DP's track record highlights include CJ Media(Division of Samsung, the $90 billion giant ranked 46th Fortune Global 500), The Hyundai Group ($60 billion ranked 76th Fortune Global 500), and Lotte Group ($26 billion specializing in hotel,food,department stores).

More info on DP events can be found at www.DragonPromotions.com
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Sounds like your doing great things over there in Korea. Hopefully in due time what you do over there will have some residual effects over here in America in regards to major sponsorship.

Congrats and keep up the good work Charlie.
 
This is wonderful news. Congratulations to Charlie, Cindy, and all associated with Dragon Promotions, and thanks for all the hard work that went into making it happen.
 
It is just about the plain truth that you can not always make everyone happy. If you make a stand on one side of the fence everyone on the other side will resent it.
I lived in Orlando for 26 years, and I had the chance to watch and play around with Charlie quite a bit when Pro-Billiards was thee place to get played. I can say one thing for sure about him. He has and probably always will try to further this great hobby of ours. Every event might not come off to perfection, but I don't see too many other people putting as much back into the game. I do say two big thumbs way, way up for you Mr. Williams!!! Keep it up sir, I appreciate it very much. Maybe one day the rest of the US will catch on and pool will be on fire like poker or ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS.
 
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absolutely cracking news and well played Charlie. And the rest of Dragon Promotions who's names I don't know.

Hopefully it's the start of a lengthy and fruitful partership for both parties.

This is the sort of thing pool needs. A bit of money, and some big brand names involved.

Nice one.
 
Congratulations Charlie! That is a great feat, I wish you all the success in future promotions also.

Matt
 
candyman said:
Congratulations Charlie! That is a great feat, I wish you all the success in future promotions also.

Matt
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Very good Mr. Charlie Williams. Would you like a few million petitioners to send you some petitions for TV coverage in America? You could hand these requests to the KIA Motor company, from American Billiard players, who watch TV & drive cars????
 
PROG8R said:
It is just about the plain truth that you can not always make everyone happy. If you make a stand on one side of the fence everyone on the other side will resent it.
I lived in Orlando for 26 years, and I had the chance to watch and play around with Charlie quite a bit when Pro-Billiards was thee place to get played. I can say one thing for sure about him. He has and probably always will try to further this great hobby of ours. Every event might not come off to perfection, but I don't see too many other people putting as much back into the game. I do say two big thumbs way, way up for you Mr. Williams!!! Keep it up sir, I appreciate it very much. Maybe one day the rest of the US will catch on and pool will be on fire like poker or ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS.
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I agree,atleast someone is doing something.Kudo's to you Charlie and the dragon staff.
 
Thanks for all the support .
I really have a tremendous staff including Myung Jin Kim, my General Manager in Korea and Na Young Kim our Public Relations Director. They also have alot of good people under them and we have awesome partnership with the TV networks.

But most of all, Cindy Lee the President of DP should get a ton of well deserved credit. In less than 3 years time, she has helped me take DP to new heights. I can honestly say that without her DP would not be where it is at today.
 
I have a question about the poster... the term "pocket ball", is that a new term coined recently, or is that simply the literal translation of the Korean word for "pool"? Either way, I think it's kinda cool. :)
 
Great accomplishment...

Thank you Charlie, this is a fantastic accomplishment in getting non-pool sponsorship for tournament play. Hope this is just the first step in getting major sponsors to finally know how great the games of pool and billiards are!
 
This is incredible news! The success of pool in Asia really pales the US. Dragon Promotions could be the link between main stream sponsors overseas to the US market. Let's all hope
 
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