Other website sections

»Sports Market Reports

»Sports Jobs

»Tenders

»Directory

»Conferences

The traditional cheese of Switzerland, Le Gruyère AOC Switzerland, a long time supporter of the Olympic Winter Sport of Curling, is to sponsor the European Curling Championships for two years starting with the 2009 event in Aberdeen. The agreement has been negotiated by Infront Sports & Media, whose new and exclusive marketing partnership with the World Curling Federation (WCF) commenced in May 2008.

The brand will have title rights as follows: Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2009 in Aberdeen (Scotland) and the Le Gruyère European Curling Championships 2010 in Champéry (Switzerland). The entire Eurosport TV inventory will belong to Le Gruyère AOC Switzerland and the advertising opportunities will be optimized, including a new positioning to the under-ice advertising which gives better visibility.

Philippe Bardet, Director of Le Gruyère, said: "There is an excellent fit between curling and Le Gruyère AOC Switzerland, which is why we have supported this sport for so many years. With our home base in Switzerland, this association gives us a great opportunity to support the event all over Europe and emphasis the unique Swiss appeal of the brand. Great Britain is also an important market for us and we will activate our broad range of rights on-site."

Les Harrison, President of the WCF, added: "We welcome and appreciate Le Gruyère AOC Switzerland’s continuing support for curling. Not only is it an extremely popular Olympic sport – interest will be at its height with the Olympic Winter Games next year – but we should never forget that curling is also a popular social activity for groups, involving millions of participants around the world at the club level."

Bruno Marty, Executive Director Winter Sports for Infront, said: “The partnership WCF and Infront is proving itself to the satisfaction of both parties. In our first year of involvement, all sponsorship inventories have been sold and television coverage is increasing. We are pleased at this convincing demonstration of the value of working with an experienced sports marketing company – the WCF is assured of financial stability to support future growth in the sport.”