Infront Sports & Media delivers marketing success at the most important meeting in the German horseracing calendar

Iffezheim, Germany / Zug, Switzerland, 27th August 2010 – The long wait is finally over. On 28 August, the Great Festival Week at the international racecourse in Iffezheim near Baden-Baden will begin. In its first year under the new management of Baden Racing GmbH, majority owned by the international sports marketing agency Infront Sports & Media, this event will be an even more dazzling occasion. It will combine traditional sporting highlights and improved entertainment facilities with an attractive group of sponsors and stronger than ever media interest.

Professional marketing and attractive sponsoring packages
Infront has brought its long experience in the marketing of sport to bear on Iffezheim and has established a more exclusive marketing structure, with just four sponsorship levels (main sponsor, exclusive partner, premium partner, classic partner). Depending on their marketing package, sponsors can link their brands to individual races and also have access to attractive advertising and promotional opportunities around the racecourse, first-class hospitality, including meet & greets with trainers and jockeys. Infront’s subsidiary, Infront Hospitality Management, will be responsible for hospitality and catering.

 

Strong sponsoring portfolio
Thanks to an intensive marketing campaign and its excellent contacts, Infront has secured strong sponsors for the Great Festival Week 2010. These include new partners as Veuve Clicquot (champagne), Rena Lange (fashion label), Belmondo (horseracing products), Henkel (consumer goods), IG Markets (financial services provider), hrs.de (hotel reservation portal) and the Tirol tourist region. In addition, existing partners have stayed on board. Mercedes (main sponsor), Sparkassenverband (financial services provider), Toto Lotto (lottery), Kronimus (construction), the DEHOGA association (hotels and restaurants), bestwetten.de (betting portal), the Baden-Badener Auktionsgesellschaft (auction company) and the Casino Baden-Baden have renewed their commitments.

 

“In just three months, we have found takers for all of the top-quality sponsorship packages. In spite of the economic climate, the Great Festival Week has inspired confidence among new and existing commercial partners,” said Reinhardt Weinberger, Managing Director of Infront Germany. “The professional upgrade of the Iffezheim racecourse makes it attractive for companies to associate themselves with Germany’s most famous race meeting and to profit from the positive image transfer as well as the unique atmosphere of the Iffezheim racecourse.”

 

National and international broadcast coverage
The upgrade of the Great Festival Week has had a considerable impact on media interest – a bonus for the sponsors involved. The hungarian television station Chello and the French horseracing channel Equidia will broadcast live the “bestwetten.de Goldene Peitsche” race on 29 August, featuring the as-yet unbeaten Hengst Overdose. In addition, ZDR, SWR-Fernsehen and media partner R.TV Karlsruhe will broadcast race highlights.

 

Extensive coverage is also expected for the closing highlight, the ‘Grosser Mercedes-Benz Preis von Baden’ trophy on 5 September. All Great Festival Week races can also be viewed around the world on bookmakers’ portals, such as racebets.com or bestwetten.de, mostly via live stream. Overall, 120 media representatives from more than 10 countries have been accredited for the event and will ensure worldwide coverage of all sporting and social highlights.

 

About the Great Festival Week and Baden Racing
The Great Festival Week is the most important international race meeting in Germany. It is taking place at Iffezheim racecourse from 28 August to 5 September this year. With 54 races in total, more than 1.4 million Euros will be distributed over six days of racing. At least 500 horses from Germany and abroad will be racing on the Iffezheim turf, in front of 70,000 visitors.

 

About Baden Racing
Baden Racing GmbH, a joint venture between Infront Sports & Media, DSV Deutscher Sportverlag, the Stars & Friends agency and weiss media, became the new operator of the Iffezheim racecourse on 1 June 2010. The aim is to raise the racecourse to new heights and to ensure sustained profitability. Despite an extremely short lead time, many measures have been implemented to get the Great Festival Week back on track this year. These include infrastructure investments amounting to 400,000 Euros and numerous innovations with regard to betting and entertainment services, as well as fundamental improvements in the marketing of the event.

 

For further information, please contact:

Peter Mühlfeit
Press Officer
Baden Racing GmbH
Tel. +49-176-17229315
presse baden-racing.com
www.baden-racing.com

Nike Möhle
Corporate Communications
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel. +41-79-5784496
press infrontsports.com
www.infrontsports.com