Lavazza has announced that it has become the official coffee of The Championships, Wimbledon for a three year period from 2011 as part of its consolidated long term strategy of internationalization for the Lavazza brand.

The deal will see the Italian coffee brand being supplied across 60 service points at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC), including 13 public cafés and restaurants, all corporate hospitality areas and the media centre, as well as serving all officials and players.
Giuseppe Lavazza, vice president and strategic marketing director, said, “We decided to become a partner because tennis, and Wimbledon’s values, are so consistent with Lavazza’s – amongst them the heritage, tradition, authenticity and an excellent experience. In Italy, Lavazza is as iconic in terms of coffee as Wimbledon is for tennis in the UK. Coffee is very much part of the social fabric of life and Wimbledon is a major social occasion, as well as a world class tennis event.”

All sports lovers attending the event will have the chance to enjoy authentic espresso, the emblem of the “Italian way of life” embodied by Lavazza worldwide.
At the coffee shops and café points in the Wimbledon circuit Lavazza will offer coffee products that are bound to satisfy the tastes of the thousands of tennis-loving spectators who flock to Wimbledon’s famous courts every year.

The partnership will be supported by a UK focused advertising campaign in print and outdoor media, as well as in-store competitions with selected outlets and sampling for Wimbledon spectators - the tournament attracts around 500,000 spectators each year. Lavazza will also communicate its partnership of Wimbledon through a European wide print, outdoor and online media advertising campaign. In addition, Lavazza will launch a brand new, global website dedicated to the partnership, as well as several consumer promotions.

Luca Piccini, managing director of Lavazza UK said, “This is a major initiative for us – we expect to serve well over one million coffees during this year’s tournament and will use this opportunity to demonstrate Lavazza’s strength in the away from home market.

“As well as being Italy’s favorite coffee, Lavazza is also a firm favorite among Londoners, where it is brand leader with a 14 per cent share of the roasted coffee market in the region. The sampling programme will give even more people the opportunity to try Lavazza and to be convinced they want to reproduce the experience at home.”

Lavazza is known for its partnership of prestigious international events in the areas of sport, culture and the arts including, for example, the 1998 FIFA World Cup, as well as its association with London Fashion Week, which has lasted for 16 seasons.

In Italy, Lavazza is sponsoring the country’s 150th anniversary celebrations, a major event which is due to begin on 17 March in Turin, Lavazza’s hometown and Italy’s original capital until 1861. This year also sees the 20th anniversary of the famous Lavazza Calendar which, over the years, has featured the work of famous photographers such as Helmut Newton, Annie Leibovitz, David LaChapelle and, in 2011, Mark Seliger.

Established in 1895, and owned by the Lavazza family for four generations, Lavazza is currently one of the world’s top coffee roasters, leading the Italian coffee retail market with a 48 per cent market share (by value; source: Nielsen) and operating in over 90 countries through 11 subsidiaries, numerous distributors and direct production facilities located, not only in Italy, but also in India and Brazil. The company serves both the in home and away from home markets (Foodservice and Vending) as well as the Coffee Shop Business, and ended 2010 with forecast of sales of over €1.1 billion and a workforce of over 4,000 worldwide employees.

For more information: www.lavazza.com/wimbledon