• by Karl Greenberg , May 5, 2015

Jeep has signed a partnership that makes it the official and exclusive global automotive partner of the World Surf League (WSL), and the naming rights partner to the WSL Jeep Leaders Tour Rankings for men and women. 

The multi-year partnership allows Jeep to "engage with a culture that embraces the very same philosophy, beliefs and attitude of the Jeep brand on a global platform,” said Olivier Francois, CMO, FCA – Global, in a statement. “Together with the WSL, we are able to connect with an adventurous, athletic, influential and increasingly digital fan base of over 120 million through on-site beach activations and live online streaming of worldwide surfing events across countries including Brazil, Australia, France, China, Japan and the United States, making this the Jeep brand’s first truly authentic global partnership.”

This adds to Jeep's ongoing partnerships with the likes of Juventus, USA Basketball, and for 12 years Jeep has been the automotive sponsor of ESPN Winter X Games. But it is the first global partnership for the brand, as WSL event locales include the aforementioned countries as well as Fiji.

Jeep gets branding on the Tour Leaderboard and the yellow Leader Jersey, plus on-site activations. Jeep will award two vehicles to the 2015 WSL Men and Women Champions come end of year and has signed on as the title sponsor for the WSL Longboard Championships in China.

In addition , Jeep will create a WSL content microsite at Jeep.com that covers recent surf events, including the tour leaderboard. Surf content includes an interactive schedule of upcoming WSL Championship Tour events, and a gallery of top videos and photos.