A name which became synonymous with Europe’s elite club competition was spoken in combination with the EHF Champions League for the last time on 29 December as the VELUX EHF FINAL4 came to an end.
With it, ends a 10-year partnership between EHF Marketing and the VELUX Group which set new standards for sponsorship in handball.
This extraordinary period saw 11 mesmerising VELUX EHF FINAL4 events in Cologne, where we made history together, over and over again.
Managing Director of EHF Marketing GmbH, David Szlezak, said: “We’re really proud of what we have achieved together with our colleagues at the VELUX Group over the past ten years. Together we have been successful in developing a partnership that has enabled us to not only fulfil but also surpass the expectations of the VELUX Group as title sponsor.”
A core part of the partnership went deeper than naming rights, it was the campaigns which drove fan engagement, connected us with the sport’s most passionate followers and supported grass-roots handball around the world.
The ‘Let’s Play’ project highlighted this as over 15,000 free handballs were delivered to 48 countries around the world as 1,289 youth teams showed their passion for handball by taking part in the campaign.
The special initiative gave youth teams between the ages of eight and 14 the opportunity to win a set of official SELECT VELUX EHF Champions League handballs free of charge.
From Iceland to India and from New Zealand to Norway, handball stars of the future showed their love for the sport by getting their hands on an official ball, giving them a tiny taste of what it is like to be part of the biggest and most prestigious club tournament in the world.
Anton Kragh Lauritzen, Head of Sponsoring & Events at the VELUX Group, said:” Our aim through this campaign was to give something back to the handball community and the future of the game, engaging with teams and players at a grassroots level.”
Alongside that campaign, fan activations such as the Handball Manager Game, the #SCOREMORE challenge and bringing in Lars Christiansen as a face and personality of the brand shows just how passionate the VELUX Group was in their promotion of Europe’s top flight and we are extremely grateful for that.
Details on the partnership’s activations can be read in the complete text of the ‘Sponsorship Works’ Case Study, available for download courtesy of SportBusiness.
“The partnership has become such a big part of the VELUX history over the years – which we are truly proud of. Engaging both fans, business partners and employers across the VELUX Group throughout the years,” said Lauritzen in a recent interview on eurohandball.com.
Thank you, VELUX, for 10 extraordinary years.
