King of Shaves to sponsor GB sprinter James Ellington
King of Shaves is to sponsor British sprinter and Olympic hopeful James Ellington after his efforts to find a sponsor on eBay fell through.
The brand plans to feature Ellington in marketing activity dubbed “Hyperformance” that Will King, founder and CEO of the brand says will segue into the brand’s soon to launch high performance product range.
King says: “We’re aligning the brand with the high performance category to get the brand positioned where it needs to be for the future and the partnership with James Ellington is part of that strategy.”
He adds that Ellington – the second fastest UK sprinter – and King of Shaves could be “the blade to beat the [Usain] Bolt” in the summer’s athletics programme.
The commercial sponsorship will allow Ellington to train full time in the run up to the Games and could become a long-term partnership between the brand and athlete.
Ellington, who’s training and funding opportunities have been blighted by injury in the past, is hoping to qualify for Team GB ahead of this summer’s Games. He took the unusual step of listing the sponsorship opportunity on eBay to attract funding that would allow him to train after failing to secure sponsorship through traditional channels.
A winning £30,000 eBay bid turned out to be fake, leaving Ellington without funding.
King used Twitter to contact Ellington directly during the eBay auction offering the brand’s support if the eBay funding fell through.
King of Shaves has previously supported athletes such as Kirstan Bromley and Shelley Rudman in the 2006 Winter Olympics, Formula 3 driver Jordan King and James Sheppard in the Powerboat P1 sailing tournament and ran an athletics initiative called Young Blades between 2004 and 2010.
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