Roger Federer to become global ambassador for his favourite chocolate brand, Lindt

Premium chocolate manufacturer Lindt & Sprüngli is partnering with Swiss tennis champion Roger Federer, in a long term deal to serve as the global brand ambassador for his favourite chocolate brand, Lindt.

Lindt & Sprüngli say they are delighted with this opportunity to associate with the most successful tennis player of all time. The contract details of the agreement will not be made public.

For the first time in the company's history dating back for more than one hundred and sixty years, the Lindt & Sprüngli Group is linking its own name to that of a celebrity. The global fame of top sportsman Federer would seem to make this partnership a highly promising opportunity for the company to further enhance the global popularity of its premium chocolates.

With his likeable and down to earth image, Federer is surely the ideal brand ambassador for Lindt & Sprüngli. The company suggests that he uniquely embodies their fundamental values of 'Swissness,' 'Premiumness,' 'Quality' and 'Passion.' The association of these important attributes with the names of Lindt and Federer symbolises the perfect 'match' between the number one in premium chocolate and the number one in the world of tennis, they add.

Ernst Tanner, CEO and Chairman of the Board of Lindt & Sprüngli, comments: "We are naturally delighted to be able to name Roger Federer, an exceptional and well-known Swiss icon, as our brand ambassador. Together with Roger Federer, we will become the foremost ambassadors for Swiss quality". Federer himself confirms this: "I am Swiss by birth, and since my childhood, I have always been a great fan of Lindt chocolate. I am very excited to partner with the global leader in premium chocolate and I enjoy their products and am very impressed with their plans for future growth".

Alongside the company's successful communication concept based on the universally popular Maîtres Chocolatiers, the cooperation with Roger Federer will be used as an additional communication instrument in Lindt's global marketing efforts.

The new contract, says the company, will enable Visa to deliver additional benefits to clients and their cardholders with expanded point-of-sale presence, exclusive acceptance programs for Olympic-related transactions and increased access to unique experiences for Visa clients to offer to their customers through Visa marketing programs.

"The Olympic Games deliver tremendous global exposure and access to virtually every demographic group," said Antonio Lucio, Chief Marketing Officer of Visa Inc. "The Olympic Games also deliver tangible and proven business building benefits to Visa, its clients and partners. Client activation around the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, which involved more than 573 clients in forty-one countries, illustrates the universal appeal of this marquee property."

IOC President Jacques Rogge said: "Our partnership with Visa demonstrates a shared commitment - to the future of youth and sport, to the future of the Olympic Games and to the strengthening of the Olympic ideals and values we respect. On behalf of the IOC, the 205 National Olympic Committees around the world, and the athletes themselves, I would like to thank Visa, its clients and partners for their commitment through to the 2020 Olympic Games".

The unwavering and growing appeal of the Olympic Games has provided Visa with a flexible platform on which to build integrated marketing campaigns. Over the years, Visa's use of the Olympic sponsorship to support its business has evolved with its business strategy.

"During the early days of our Olympic sponsorship, we focused on promoting our exclusive acceptance at the Games", explained Lucio. "Today, we utilise the sponsorship platform to promote the advantages of using Visa instead of cash and check and to facilitate the development and advancement of the payment infrastructure in Olympic host countries. With efforts in support of the Vancouver Winter Olympic Games already underway, and London 2012 well into our planning stages, we are particularly excited about the opportunities that the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games will provide. We look forward to working with partners in Russia, the Sochi Organizing Committee and the IOC to further build on our Olympic legacy and make the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games a global success", he added.

Clearly Visa's commitment to the Olympic Movement, National Olympic Committees, national teams and individual athletes has been an important factor in ensuring the continuance and success of the Olympic Games. Visa has created a number of programmes around the world to help sustain Olympic teams and athletes as they embark on their journey to the Games. Visa was also the first worldwide Olympic partner to mount marketing destination programs linked to the cities hosting the Olympic Games.

Visa also retains exclusive category rights to all 205 National Olympic Committees and their Olympic teams around the world. These rights include advertising and promotional use of Olympic marks and imagery from the Olympic Games as well as marks from the National and International Olympic Committees.