Fast, furious and fun
This highly physical and demanding team sport is fast and exciting to watch and more popular than ever before. The European game is growing robustly throughout all regions. Every two years in the second part of January, Europe’s best men’s handball teams meet to contest the EHF European Championships. The women’s teams meet in December of the same year.
Infront and the EHF
In 2009, the European Handball Federation (EHF) and Infront Sports & Media extended their current long-term marketing partnership in respect of the Men’s and Women’s EHF EURO until 2020.
The relationship is a long-running success story — Infront has handled the television distribution and marketing for EHF EURO events since 1993.
Handball keeps on growing
The big handball countries, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Russia along with many smaller countries and Eastern European nations (such as Croatia and Poland) are strong contenders, making the competition inclusive and adding to its democratic appeal.
Infront has increased the television coverage and audience figures of the EHF EURO events consistently over the past 17 years. The 2010 men’s event achieved a cumulative television audience of over one billion, with an astonishing total of 1,700 hours of programming. Together with the audience figures from the previous event (1.2 billion in 2008) both broadcasters and viewers have enjoyed an amazing two prong television success story.
For the 2010 EHF EURO in Austria, Infront concluded agreements with 70 territories in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and South America. The event was broadcast by 80 television and radio stations with a total of 599 representatives present on-site in Austria, an increase of close to 200 compared to the 2008 event.
Qualifications and Championships under one roof
In addition to handling the commercial rights for the Men’s and Women’s European handball events, Infront is also marketing the media rights and some marketing rights of the qualification matches. This combination of rights under one roof has proved highly beneficial.
The 150 matches of the Men’s EHF EURO 2010 qualification provided significant levels of additional coverage for European handball — a total of over 400 hours. The women’s qualification which consisted of 84 matches played by 28 national teams between October 2009 and May 2010 provided a further 131 hours of television coverage.
Popular with fans and sponsors
With the image of handball being exciting, international, demanding and competitive it appeals to a high income and well educated male audience of between 30-69 years old. In 2008, the semi-final between Germany and Denmark found 8.5 million viewers enjoying the fast paced action.
Both the Men’s and Women’s events are well supported by a full complement of sponsors, indicative of their popularity and appeal. In 2008, the total brand visibility achieved from cumulated television coverage reached 3,139 hours.
Tailor-made marketing opportunities
The commercial hierarchy for the EHF Euro events consists of three categories: Official Presenting or Title Sponsor, Official Sponsors and Official Suppliers. This hierarchy has been developed to provide a variety of entry levels with tailor-made marketing opportunities for the companies taking part. Since the inception of the tournament, Infront has marketed the Official Sponsorship packages with complete success, including a comprehensive rights package with official designations, advertising boards, floor advertising, arena signage, promotional rights and hospitality.
The line-up of Official Sponsors at the men’s event in 2010 included eight international and regional companies and brands: AJ (Home and office furniture), Appel Feinkost (Delicatessen), bet-at-home.com (Betting services), Grundfos (Pump solutions), Henkel (Consumer Products), Mekkonomen (Car parts retailer), Spar (Food retailer) and Vola (Brassware design).
Serviced by Infront
Behind the scenes, Infront supports the Official Sponsors. Its servicing role is on-going and includes not just the event itself, but the many years of planning and preparation that lead up to it. Infront’s main responsibility is contract delivery, ensuring that sponsors receive all the rights and benefits that they have been promised in an efficient and constructive manner.
Pre-event, Infront is responsible for advising and approving all print materials and the management and planning of marketing activities on behalf of sponsors. On-site, the design, construction and maintenance of all advertising and signage is also controlled by Infront. This ensures the correct co-ordination and display of sponsor logos for interview backdrops, posters, website and television advertising.
