Swiss telecommunications company Quickline is making history by becoming the first title sponsor of the top Swiss men’s handball league, which will henceforth be known as the Quickline Handball League. The agreement was concluded by sportsemotion ag, which acquired the title sponsorship rights from the Swiss Handball Association (SHV) and the Swiss Handball League NLA (SHL NLA). The agreement is for three seasons and includes extensive presentation rights.
Following the recent successes of the Swiss men’s national team with its thrilling performances at the World Handball Championships in Egypt against various top international teams, the signing of Quickline as title sponsor of the National League A represents another milestone in the marketing of Swiss handball.
The SHV and the teams in the NLA will benefit in the long term from a fixed annual contribution from the sponsorship. Quickline will receive exclusive advertising rights to a dynamic and accessible sport and will be able to act with great scope for development and design in the long term. This also supports the efforts of the NLA clubs, which for their part have made great progress in marketing in the recent past and will be further strengthened by the contract now concluded.
The SHV and the SHL NLA hope that the sale of the title sponsorship, the financial amount of which has not been disclosed, will give a further boost to the marketing of one of its most important products. Alongside the men’s national team, the NLA is the drawing card of Swiss handball and, with its weekly TV presence on SPORT1 and live broadcasts in the final phase of the championship on SRF, has a far-reaching media platform.
In addition to its TV presence, the NLA can access other highly attractive platforms in the multimedia sector. For example, since the 2016/17 season, all championship matches have been offered live and on demand as a stream on the handballTV.ch web platform. This offer is very popular in the current situation. In addition, the NLA has a prominent presence on handball.ch, Switzerland’s largest internet platform for handball news.
Jens Keel, CEO of sportsemotion ag is pleased about the deal with Quickline: “As a specialist for naming rights, we know how such an engagement can help a company to increase its brand awareness efficiently and in a sympathetic way. We will support and accompany Quickline on its way to achieve its marketing goals via the comprehensive service package of the Quickline Handball League by means of professional services.”
Jürgen Krucker, Managing Director of SHV, says of the long-term agreement: “We are proud that, under the expert management of the agency sportsemotion ag, we have found in Quickline a partner who, like us, sees the growing potential of handball as a cross-media marketing, sales and communications platform in the years to come. The fact that the partnership has come about at a difficult time for society as a whole underlines the potential that Quickline sees in handball. We will now exploit this together in the best possible way.”
Urs von Ins, CMO of Quickline, adds: “Quickline has already been involved in sports for many years and is aligning its sponsorship strategy even more consistently. The interesting opportunity arose for us to act as the name sponsor of the Swiss Handball League. Handball is currently experiencing an upswing among the Swiss population and is also being broadcast live on TV more and more. We see this as an opportunity for the Quickline brand to raise our profile as a telecommunications provider in German-speaking Switzerland. Further, we look forward to interacting with the handball community and fans.”
NLA league president Patrice Hitz is also delighted. “The sale of the naming rights to Quickline is another significant step in the marketing of our league. Quickline is a dynamic company that, just like the ten NLA clubs, stands for positive energy, excitement and entertainment. Quickline and handball – it’s a good fit.”