Cono Sur joins Tour de France

Viña Cono Sur has confirmed that it will sponsor the “Grand Départ” UK phase of the Tour de France 2014.

The Chilean wine producer will promote its portfolio, which includes the Bicicleta range, along the three UK stages of this year’s route: Leeds to Harrogate, York to Sheffield and Cambridge to London.

The three week cycling event starts on 5 July and is expected to attract a television audience of over three billion people, with more than six million spectators expected to turn out for the Grand Départ as it passes through the UK.

Cono Sur’s activity surrounding the Tour de France will include on-pack branding during its sponsorship period, as well as sampling at each finish line, a presence in the Village du Tour and participation in the publicity caravan which parades an hour before the race begins.

Announcing the deal, Cono Sur’s UK marketing director Clare Griffiths highlighted the brand’s 33.8% year on year growth within the UK off-trade. She described this sponsorship as a way to “further accelerate our growth plans, demonstrating to our customers that we are serious about building our brands in the UK, and engage with wine consumers by increasing awareness and engagement.”

With UK cyclists having achieved major Tour de France and other high profile cycling successes in recent years, Griffiths added: “Cycling is an incredibly popular sport for both spectator and participant, and this tie up, as well as the obvious links with Bicicleta, will help to increase our reach to a broad target audience.”