BEIJING, April 18, 2012 /PRNewswire-Asia-FirstCall/-- Charm Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRM) ("Charm" or the "Company"), a leading advertising agency in China, today announced the Company has established a three-year sponsorship and promotional agreement with the following Chinese Winter Olympic sports associations: the Chinese Skating Association (CKA), the Chinese Ski Association (CSA), the Chinese Ice Hockey Association (CIHA) and the Chinese Curling Association (CCA). The cooperation initiatives will be managed by Charm's newly established sports marketing department, which is led by Mr. Lei Wu, a veteran of the sports marketing business and who joined Charm from the CCTV Sports and Entertainment Group.
Under the terms of the agreement, Charm will work with China's ice hockey, curling, short-track speed skating, figure skating, and freestyle skiing teams, along with five other Chinese Olympic teams, to promote their respective sports and to develop sponsorship opportunities for the teams, as well as for individual athletes. As such, Charm will represent a number of talented and popular Chinese athletes, including Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao, pair skating gold medalists at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics, and Meng Wang, short track speed skating gold medalist at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Key sponsorship opportunities will involve important domestic and international competitions, including the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.
"As the Olympics continue to grow in popularity in China, we are seeing tremendous opportunities in sports marketing and have positioned our sports marketing team to capitalize on this emerging trend," commented Mr. He Dang, Charm's founder, chairman and CEO. "The sports marketing team broadens our scope of services and strengthens our integrated advertising capabilities. In particular, our cooperation with China's Winter Olympic associations integrates well with our CCTV advertising services, as the network remains the undisputed television leader in broadcasting the Olympics in China. As a pioneer in China's advertising industry, Charm will continue to offer innovative products and solutions to our clients through our integrated advertising platform."
About Charm
Charm Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CHRM) is a leading advertising agency group in China that offers integrated advertising services with particular focus on television and the internet. Charm's integrated advertising services include full media planning and buying, as well as creative and branding services. Charm has built a full service digital advertising platform, which offers digital campaign capabilities across all key digital media, including search engines, display portals, online video sites and social networking services. Charm also secures advertising inventory and other advertising rights, such as sponsorships and branded content, from premium media networks and resells to clients as part of its integrated media offerings. Charm's clients include China's top domestic brands, as well as some major international brands, across a wide range of industries. Since 2003 Charm has been the top agency every year for China's leading television network, China Central Television ("CCTV"). For more information, please go to http://ir.charmgroup.cn.
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
In China:
Mr. Kevin Sun
IR Department
Charm Communications Inc.
Phone: +86-10-8556-2527
Email: ir@charmgroup.cn
In the U.S.:
Ms. Jessica Barist Cohen
Ogilvy Financial, New York
Phone: +1-646-460-9989
Email: chrm@ogilvy.com
