As of 2015, the long-established St. Moritz winter polo tournament will be named «Snow Polo World Cup St. Moritz». Behind the new name lie new promoters. Evviva Polo St. Moritz Ltd, an outfit recently founded with that specific aim, took over the responsibility for the tournament after the former organisers withdrew their backing. The erstwhile initiator of polo on snow, Reto Gaudenzi, together with his team, are thus back at the helm of the tournament.
Gaudenzi sets his faith in local communications experts to make a success of the relaunch of the St. Moritz tournament: Christian Gartmann will be in charge of communications and media work; the new corporate design and all on- and offline marketing materials will be developed by the St. Moritz-based full-service advertising agency Spot Werbung.
«No doubt, Spot Werbung and Christian Gartmann will greatly enhance the Snow Polo World Cup’s professional demeanour; add to that the fact that they know the Engadine Valley and its residents like the back of their hands» says organiser Reto Gaudenzi explaining his choice. «Just as any other event, the St. Moritz Snow Polo cannot become a true success if the local residents do not embrace the event. Being rooted in the Engadine was thus as much a pre-requisite for our partners as know-how and experience.»
Ahead of the tournament, an array of new marketing material will be created that will in due course encompass all aspects of the event and be available in a number of languages. The organisers are expecting media from around the world to be coming to the event; on the weekend of the tournament, text, images and video footage will be provided on-site and on-line. To that effect, a team of journalists, photographers and a dedicated TV crew, operating under the guidance of Christian Gartmann, will be signed on.
Multiple channels in social media, such as Facebook and Instagram, will complement the tournament website – all of which will be designed and managed by Spot Werbung. The full-service advertising agency based in St. Moritz has also been appointed to redesign and modernise the tournament’s corporate design and has already begun implementing the entire range of online and offline marketing materials, whose showpiece will be a responsive mobile website. An attractive programme will round off the communications materials at the event.
Over 30 years of winter polo
Polo on snow was invented in St. Moritz: in 1985, a few enthusiasts, spearheaded by Reto Gaudenzi, organised the first winter polo tournament. Whilst being belittled by a few at first, the St. Moritz Polo World Cup went on to become a fixture in the St. Moritz winter programme. Whilst other winter sports destinations have copied the idea, St. Moritz is unanimously considered as the birthplace of snow polo.
It is not without due that the last weekend in January in St. Moritz is so strongly entwined with the sport of polo: for more than 30 years, sponsors, backers, the town of St. Moritz, the Engadin St. Moritz Tourism Organisation and, not least, countless volunteers have worked towards financing and carrying out the polo tournament every year. At the start of 2014, the future of the original snow polo tournament was hanging by a thread: the previous organisers threw the gauntlet and the fate of a 2015 tournament was up in the air.
Once again, it was Reto Gaudenzi who stepped into the breach; he is the organiser of numerous polo tournaments around the world and, teaming up with other polo enthusiast, has founded the Evviva Polo St. Moritz Ltd with the aim to carry out the tournament. «We were very concerned by the uncertainty of the future of this top sportive and social event. Polo devotees around the world have encouraged us to take over the St. Moritz tournament again and lead it into a secure future.»
Contacts
Christian Gartmann, Director Communications and Media
+41 79 355 78 78
Werner Pircher, Managing Director/Partner? Spot Werbung Ltd
+41 79 218 26 78
Reto Gaudenzi, Evviva Polo St. Moritz Ltd
+41 79 774 38 27