Famous Swiss cheese brand becomes Title Sponsor of the event

Zug, Switzerland, 2 October 2009 – 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.”

About Le Gruyère
Le Gruyère AOC Switzerland is proud to be involved in Curling, a sport which requires precision and respect of time-honoured rules. It is exactly what a Gruyère AOC cheese maker does each day of the year to bring a Gruyère AOC wheel to maturity. Apart from curling, Le Gruyère AOC Switzerland’s collaboration with winter sport also includes the FIS Alpine Ski races in Adelboden and St. Moritz.

Le Gruyère AOC is a hard cheese produced in the Western part of Switzerland, with a characteristic taste obtained from the best quality "unpasteurized" milk coming straight from cows grazing on grass. Depending on the age of the cheese, (maturation time between 5 to 18 months), it develops more and more character.

The Gruyère AOC Switzerland is produced with the milk of 2,800 milk producers, manufactured by 185 cheese makers and sold by 10 refiners.

The name is derived from the region of Gruyère in the Swiss Canton of Fribourg, the historic capital and the site of the medieval castle of the counts of Gruyère. The product was first referred to in the writings of Count Guillaume de Gruyère in 1115, and was first called Gruyère in 1602.

For further information please visit www.gruyere.com. 

About the WCF
The World Curling Federation (WCF) is the international sport federation governing the Olympic winter sport of curling and the Paralympic winter sport of wheelchair curling with headquarters in Perth, Scotland. The WCF represents 45 Member Associations and is generally acknowledged to direct one of the fastest-growing international winter sports.

Infront and Winter Sports
Infront Sports & Media, based in Zug, Switzerland, is the strongest, most experienced marketing agency in the winter sports arena. It has focused strongly on developing its role in winter sports in recent years, to the point that it now represents six of seven Olympic winter sport federations at international level. The Group is the commercial partner of more than 90% of all national skiing federations hosting FIS Alpine Ski and Nordic World Cup races. It also markets the FIS World Championships. It has a long term partnership with the IIHF in international ice hockey and relationships with the winter sports of biathlon, bobsleigh and skeleton, curling and luge.

 

 

For further information, please contact:

Jörg Polzer
Manager, Communication & PR
Infront Sports & Media AG
Tel. +41-41-723 15 15
press infrontsports.com

www.infrontsports.com

Philippe Bardet
Director
Le Gruyère AOC Switzerland
Tel. +41-26-921 84 10
interprofession gruyere.com 

www.gruyere.com

Joanna Kelly
Media Relations Officer
World Curling Federation
media worldcurling.org

www.worldcurling.org

 

 

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