NIVEA Spreads Happiness to the AVP Tour as New Title Sponsor

LOS ANGELES, March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- NIVEA and the AVP today announced NIVEA as the pro beach volleyball tour's new title sponsor. The multi-year partnership makes NIVEA, the world's largest skin care brand, the exclusive skin and personal care product of the AVP. The partnership includes promotional and marketing rights to all of the AVP tour and advances NIVEA's mission to bring people closer together by tying the brand closely to impactful moments of human connections.

Planned marketing initiatives surrounding the newly titled 2010 AVP NIVEA Tour will support NIVEA's new Happy Sensation Body Lotion and Touch of Happiness Body Wash.  Activities will include, advertising, on-site signage, sampling activations, retail activities, PR, contests and online.

"With its newly launched Touch of Happiness Body Wash and Happy Sensation Body Lotion, NIVEA is bringing happiness to consumers' everyday life. Through our partnership with the AVP, NIVEA will have a unique opportunity to spread happiness to the US, from coast to coast and across the country where beach volleyball fans will gather to enjoy happy days of sand, outdoor, fun and play," said Nicolas Maurer, Vice President, Marketing, Beiersdorf Inc. "We are thrilled to lend our name to the Tour and look forward to elevating the lifestyle and entertainment elements of the events as the Tour travels across the country this summer."  

"This is a great day for the Sport of Beach Volleyball and a watershed day for the AVP," said Jason Hodell, AVP CEO. "For a brand with the scale and resources of NIVEA to support the growth of Beach Volleyball is very exciting."

In a massive rebranding reflecting NIVEA's title sponsorship, all AVP NIVEA Tour events will prominently feature the iconic blue color of the NIVEA tin, transforming tournament sites into a "sea of blue."  The addition of this activation adds a happiness and summer complement to NIVEA's impactful New Year's Eve and Valentine's Day blitzes that consumers have come to enjoy.  

"Signing NIVEA ushers in a new era of growth and stability for the AVP," said Mike Dodd, AVP commissioner. "With its iconic character, its dedication to skin and body care worldwide, NIVEA fits perfectly with the health and vitality of our players. I see no limits to our future together."

The AVP NIVEA Tour opens the 2010 season April 16-18 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where two-time Olympic gold medalist Misty May-Treanor is set to return to action after missing most of last year due to injury. ESPN2 will televise the women's final April 18 at 5:30 p.m. EDT, marking the AVP's debut on its new ESPN/ABC TV platform.

The Leverage Agency, a leading sports sponsorship and branded entertainment firm based in New York City who is the AVP's agency of record, brokered and negotiated the deal on the AVP's behalf.

About NIVEA

NIVEA is manufactured by Beiersdorf AG, a leading international company of branded consumer products for skin and beauty care. Beiersdorf stands for leading international brands like NIVEA, Eucerin, Aquaphor and la prairie, 125 years of experience in research and development, and strong international presence. For more information on Beiersdorf, visit our Web site, www.beiersdorf.com.

About AVP:

AVP, Inc. is a leading lifestyle sports entertainment company focused on the production, marketing and distribution of professional beach volleyball events worldwide. The AVP NIVEA Tour is set to stage 12 events throughout the United States in 2010 featuring more than 150 of the top male and female competitors in the sport. AVP athletes won both the women's and men's gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, marking the first gold medal sweep by a single country in the history of Olympic Beach Volleyball. AVP is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. For more information, please visit www.avp.com.

Facebook: AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour

Twitter: avpbeach

About Leverage Agency, LLC

Based in New York City with offices in Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Beijing, the Leverage Agency is a premiere sports and entertainment marketing firm focused on maximizing clients' revenues and return-on-investment through sponsorship sales and brand integration. Leverage specializes in building effective partnership activation programs for a wide range of sports, media and entertainment clients and Fortune 500 brands. For more information, visit: www.leverageagency.com or call (212) 752-2500.

SOURCE AVP