Foster’s the Melbourne-based global beer brand – is the new naming rights sponsor of the Australian Grand Prix.
Already a worldwide partner of Formula One, the official beer supplier to the world’s most watched annual sporting championship and the naming rights sponsor of the British and Belgian Grands Prix, Foster’s Group president and chief executive officer Mr Ted Kunkel said the Australian Grand Prix was the jewel in the crown.
‘It’s the third leg of a ‘trifecta’ of Grand Prix naming rights sponsorships for Foster’s and we’re absolutely thrilled that we’re going to be involved in such a big way with the Australian Grand Prix in our company’s home town, Melbourne,’ Mr Kunkel said.
‘Formula One has given the Foster’s brand enormous international horsepower already, and this takes our participation in a massive global sport to a new level.
‘The Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne each March is the starting point of the FIA Formula One World Championship and is enormously important to us, and we will treat it as such.’
Foster’s has secured the naming rights to the Australian Grand Prix for five years until 2006, with an option to renew.
The announcement of the Foster’s sponsorship was made in Melbourne today by the Victorian Premier, Mr Steve Bracks.
‘The Victorian Government is committed to keeping the Australian Grand Prix in the state for many years to come, and we see this long-term sponsorship of the event by Foster’s as playing a major part in achieving that goal,’ Mr Bracks said.
‘Foster’s has a history of involvement in Formula One, but I know that gaining the title rights to the Australian Grand Prix in its home town is a very special ‘victory’ for Foster’s.’
Welcoming Foster’s as the new major sponsor of Australia’s biggest annual international sporting event, Australian Grand Prix Corporation chairman Mr Ronald Walker, AO, CBE, said the deal marked ‘a passing of the baton from one Australian corporate icon to another’.
‘Qantas has been an absolutely fantastic naming rights sponsor of the Australian Grand Prix for five years and, while Foster’s is now taking up that position, Qantas will continue to be hugely involved with the event,’ Mr Walker said.
‘Qantas will continue to be the official airline of the Australian Grand Prix, a sponsorship that I’m informed remains one of its biggest sports sponsorships.
‘The Australian Grand Prix is a hallmark event not only of the Victorian major events calendar but, especially since becoming the first race of the season, of the FIA Formula One World Championship.
‘It is a reflection of the event’s standing in the world of international sport that it attracts naming rights sponsors of the status of Foster’s and Qantas.
‘Foster’s has already made an enormous mark on Formula One through its involvement in the sport for two decades, including naming rights of the Australian Grand Prix between 1986 and 1993 in Adelaide before the event came to Melbourne.
‘The enthusiasm and commitment that Foster’s brings to this new sponsorship of the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne parallels perfectly the Australian Grand Prix Corporation’s aims and ambitions in taking the event to new levels in the years ahead.’
Foster’s has already run one of the world’s largest consumer promotions ‘called Fostralia Formula Oz’ and has plans to bring 1,000 competition winners from around the world to Melbourne for the 2002 Foster’s Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park from February 28 to March 3.
For more details contact:
Geoff Harris
Media Manager
Australian Grand Prix Corp.
Tel: +61 3 9258 7100
Fax: +61 3 9682 0410
Email: geoff.harris@grandprix.com.au