WORLD CLASS ICE HOCKEY

Every year, in April/May, the 16 best national ice hockey teams in the world come together to play 56 exciting games to establish the new World Champion of the sport. It is the biggest annual winter sport event worldwide and it goes from strength to strength every year.

"Infront has the IIHF World Championships in its hand. For 28 years, the company is the marketing agency and this means a complete menu of services, from marketing of sponsorship packages to distribution of the television signal. Given the increasing number of users of the dedicated online broadcast service, one can understand the satisfaction of Infront’s Management on the IIHF World Championship in Switzerland."
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 7 May 2009

A unique relationship
Since 1981, Infront is the exclusive marketing partner to the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), representing all major commercial rights. This unique and very special relationship generates many benefits, including the opportunity to introduce innovations and improvements on a consistent basis.

The biggest annual winter sports event


Exciting future
Looking forward to 2010, the IIHF World Championship in Germany has an exciting record in its sights. The opening game on 7 May 2010 will take place in the Veltins-Arena of Gelsenkirchen, home of the football (soccer) Bundesliga club FC Schalke 04. The stadium will be transferred to a giant ice hockey arena with an overall capacity enhanced to almost 76,000 places. A full stadium would represent a new spectator world record for ice hockey.

More coverage in more countries
The 2009 IIHF World Championship in Switzerland saw a classic final between Russia and Canada, pitching the two greatest ice hockey nations against each other for the second year in succession. Russia defeated Canada 2-1 to win gold for the second year in a row.

The fact that the 2009 event took place in Europe, where most teams were in the right time zone for their fans, helped ensure very high levels of coverage. There were a record number of over 200 broadcast partners in more than 100 territories, as well as the third highest cumulative audience figure in the history of the event, at 647.4 million. The 2009 IIHF World Championship was not only available in the core ice hockey markets but, from Andorra to Zimbabwe, the event was seen around the globe – accumulating over 2,500 hours of worldwide coverage.

 

Loyal sponsors a sign of strength
The IIHF World Championship is popular with sponsors. It is the biggest annual winter sports event in the world and takes place at a time of year when there is little competition from other events. It is an excellent opportunity to receive excellent television coverage. With strong appeal to affluent commercial markets in Northern Europe, the USA and Canada, the television audiences are also excellent in the new consumer markets of eastern and central Europe. The audience ranges from hardcore hockey fans to entire families – the atmosphere is comparable to a party and demonstrates great camaraderie. The dynamic, fast paced thrills of each competition are unique attracting up to 550,000 spectators on site during the event.

Impressive sponsor group remains solidly loyal

Škoda (Cars - Czech Republic) acts as Main Sponsor for the tournament since 1993, thereby establishing a world record as the longest Main Sponsor of any World Championship in history. Besides the Main Sponsor Škoda another six Official Sponsors have been involved in the event for 10 years or more, including AJ (Home and office furniture - Sweden), Bauhaus (Homestores - Germany), Intersport (Sports retailing - Switzerland), Nike (Sports apparel - USA), Tissot (Watches/timing - Switzerland) and Zepter (Home and kitchen ware, cosmetics, health lamps - France).

They have recently been joined by new, blue-chip sponsors, including Boehringer Ingelheim (OTC medicals - Germany), Gazprom (Energy – Russia), Henkel (Detergents - Germany), Kyocera Mita (Printing, faxing and copy-service - Germany), Omskvinprom (Vodka – Russia) and Raiffeisen Bank
(Bank - Austria).


Outstanding brand visibility
The sponsorship opportunity provides outstanding brand visibility due to the small rink size, the limited number of sponsors with a “clean” set-up concept - and the fact that the playing surface and its border is the advertising space. The partnership structure includes one Official Main Sponsor and approximately ten Official Sponsors and the packages include:

  • Advertising on rink boards and on cubes in the arena
  • Logo integration on the program guide, interview and mixed-zone backdrops, advertising posters and on the official website
  • Right to use event logo, event title and official mascot for promotional purposes
  • On site product placement and promotional activities, including opportunity to sponsor on-ice award ceremonies
  • Access to VIP hospitality areas and invitations to workshops and VIP events