Iris lands Heineken sponsorship brief

by Staff, Campaign 02-Jul-09, 06:30

LONDON - Heineken International has appointed Iris to handle the global below-the-line account to support its sponsorship of the Uefa Champions League, the annual football cup competition.

Iris secured the business after a pitch against undisclosed agencies. It will now develop a global activation strategy for Heineken's above-the-line sponsorship of the tournament using experiential, retail and point- of-sale communications.

Iris will work alongside Heineken's other roster agencies Bartle Bogle Hegarty and AKQA to develop an integrated campaign, which will break in the third quarter of 2009 in time for the group stage of the 2009/10 Champions League. The work will target men over the legal drinking age.

Paul Bainsfair, the European chief executive of Iris, said: "This is a tremendous win for us. We have developed a compelling idea for Heineken that will run all around the globe and through all stages of next season's Uefa Champions League.

"We'll be working with the world's best international premium beer and the world's best football club competition. It doesn't get any better than that."