OREANDA-NEWS. On 02 April 2008 was announced, that Baltika Breweries took the decision to sponsor the Russian Championship in Football-2008. Baltika has now received the title of Official Sponsor and the rights to use the title in advertising and informational materials. The entire image communication will be done exclusively in accordance with the requirements of existing legislation on advertising.

The joining of two brands of nationwide scale — the Russian Championship in Football and Baltika №3 — is no accident. For beer brewers around the world, sponsorship of sporting events is one of the most important components of communications, and for sport it represents good financial support.

Anton Artemiev, President of Baltika Breweries commented as follows: ‘We took the decision to support the Championship, firstly considering our marketing tasks, insofar as the audience of beer fans practically coincides with the target audience of the Baltika №3 brand. At the same time, an additional argument for us was the legislative initiative of Senators in the Federation Council for the introduction of changes in the laws ‘On Advertising’ and ‘On physical training and sports.’’

At present, a draft law prepared by V.L. Mutko and V.A. Ozerov ‘On introducing changes in article 22 of the Federal Law ‘On Advertising’ and in article 16 of the Federal Law ‘On physical training and sports in the Russian Federation’ has been introduced into the State Duma. The authors propose to abolish the restrictions on placing advertisements for beer and beverages based on beer inside sports facilities for sponsors of Russian championship games in various forms of sport and official international sporting competitions (with the exception of competitions in children’s and youth sports). This initiative will make it possible to eliminate a contradiction with international practice which has a negative impact on the organisation of major competitions, including promotion of Russian cities as potential sites of the Olympic Games.

The restriction on advertising has led to financial losses, above all, for the sports federations. According to the estimates of the Russian Football Association, the restriction on advertising deprives domestic sports of around \\$20 million per year.

Football is one of the priority forms of sport which receive state support. Sponsorship funds attracted by the Russian Football Association go to finance this form of sport: purchase of equipment, organising away games, development of the clubs.

From 2003 through 2004, Baltika supported the Russian Championship in Football. Over the course of 7 years, it conducted one of the stages of the European Hockey Tournament — the Baltika Cup. In 2000, it was the official sponsor of the World Cup in Figure Skating. In 2005 the Company was forced to give up its sponsorship of these and many other projects following the adoption of amendments to the law ‘On Advertising.’