Increasing popularity and global expansion
The popularity of curling is increasing all the time, along with the global expansion of winter sports. As Official Media and Marketing Partner of the World Curling Federation, Infront is offering all media and marketing rights to forthcoming WCF top events and consults the federation on the development of the sport.
Tradition with potential for growth
The game of curling is more than 500 years old and has a rich history. The competition — between two teams of four, played with stones on ice — was featured at the first Olympic Winter Games in Chamonix, France in 1924.
After a gap of 74 years, it returned as an Olympic Winter Sport at the 1998 Nagano Winter Games, with both men’s and women’s tournaments. Becoming an official Olympic sport, improvements in ice making and changes in the rules to make the game more attractive and promote complex strategy, have increased the appeal. Both tactical and strategic, it has been compared to "chess on ice" with a skilful and team-orientated ethos.
Annual schedule of events
There is an annual schedule of international events at World and European level for both men and women.
The annual World Curling Championships involve the top 12 curling countries in the world. Each Championship takes nine days and is played in a round robin format to determine the qualification for the finals. While the Women’s World Curling Championship is played in March each year the men’s event takes place in April.
The men’s and women’s European Curling Championships always take place in December and are split into A and B groups, with group A containing the top ten European national teams. The final top eight of group A qualify for the next World Curling Championship.
Excellent TV exposure
Curling is played throughout the world. It is most firmly established in Canada, Germany, Scotland, Scandinavia and Switzerland. It is also growing fast in Eastern Europe and Asia (including China). In total 46 member associations belong to the WCF and the number is rising.
As well as the traditional winter sports countries, Asian teams have qualified for the recent World Curling Championships. China - where the popularity of the sport is soaring - received over 58 million cumulative viewers, 37% of them in prime time. The main TV broadcasters for the 2010 Capital One World Men’s Curling Championship included Eurosport, TSN, Universal-Sports, CCTV-5, ARD/ZDF, SRG, SVT, DWTV and SporTV (Globosat). On Eurosport alone the championship received over 27 hours of coverage, 23 of which were live broadcast, with a reach of 21.3 million viewers.
The 2009 Ford World Women’s Curling Championship in Canada was covered in over 60 countries. Total broadcast reached almost 60 hours, with a cumulative audience of 58 million viewers. This was an increase of 1,080% on the previous event and an indicator of things to come. In 2010, Eurosport also broadcast significant coverage of the women’s event – 22 hours in total, 13 of which were live equating to a reach of 17.8 million viewers.
Curling guarantees brand exposure
Infront, the Official Media and Marketing Partner of the WCF, is offering all marketing rights to forthcoming WCF events - these include; the Men’s World Championships, the Women’s World Championships and the European Championships.
Offering significant growth potential since the start of its cooperation with Infront, curling guarantees brand exposure through highly visible under ice advertising – with a camera focused on the ice.
An exclusive programme
Curling’s new commercial programme attracts brands like Capital One (Title Sponsor - World Curling Championship in Canada) and Le Gruyère (Title Sponsor - European Curling Championships). The impressive programme has further opportunities for one presenting sponsor, four WCF partners and five event partners per championship worldwide.
The excellent sponsorship opportunities include advertising in camera view (e.g. under ice advertising, perimeter boards, score boards, bumpers and hack signs) for cross-media advertising activities on sports channels, Logo integration on all print materials and internet presence, on-site product placement and VIP access as well as meet and greet opportunities with athletes.
