InterContinental Hotels Group plc has signed up with Catch Sport for all its athlete engagement requirements plus associated consultancy.

IHG had previously used the services of Catch Sport to support an internal event last year where the company broke new ground in providing athletes for the one-off appearance at IHG’s HQ in Denham. Three fencers and three wheelchair basketball players provided a visual spectacle by demonstrating their sports for IHG staff in September 2009. Catch Sport also secured the services of Denise Lewis for the event, who gave a speech about her experiences as an international athlete.

Adrian White, Director of Partnership Marketing EMEA at IHG, on signing Catch Sport said, “The Catch Sport team demonstrated not only that they had an efficient athlete matching system but also that their communication channels in the sports world are second to none. The successful delivery of the athlete element of our internal launch gave us great confidence in Catch Sport’s abilities and we didn’t have to think twice about signing them up for our full athlete engagement.” On the project itself, Adrian added, “We are in the middle of running a pilot for our engagement with athletes over the next 3 years which is promising to be something special for IHG and hopefully those athletes we choose to support.”

Catch Sport’s MD and founder, Karim Bashir, said, “Bringing another major brand on board is a significant step forward for us. The IHG project is extremely exciting for us and will help us achieve our major goal this year of raising £500,000 of athlete sponsorship. This is a great start to 2010.”

ENDS