Lever Fabergé in £3m-plus deal to sponsor Euro 2000 tournament

Lever Fabergéhas signed up as an official sponsor of the Uefa Euro 2000 football championships, in a deal worth more than £3m.

Lever Fabergé has signed up as an official sponsor of the Uefa Euro 2000 football championships, in a deal worth more than &£3m.

The company is planning to use this summer’s tournament, which will be held in the Netherlands and Belgium, to promote two of its international brands – Blue Band butter (marketed in the UK as a margarine) and Rexona deodorant – to a pan-European market.

The products are not mainstream brands in the UK and it is not known whether the company plans to increase promotion in the UK domestic market.

Swiss sports marketing agency ISL Worldwide is negotiating the sponsorship and marketing rights on behalf of Uefa for the event. It is understood that there is only one supplier contract left to sign for the tournament. No one at the agency was available for comment.

Lever Fabergé will join the list of supplier companies whose services have already been secured for the event. They include Nestlé cereals, Adidas, Total Fina and KLM/Alitalia. Sports Internet company Sportal is also expected to sign up as a supplier.

Official partners, which are the top-line sponsors, include McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Carlsberg, Hyundai, Pringles, MasterCard, Sony Computer Entertainment and PSINet.