Orsen, a Swiss-based sports marketing agency, has been appointed as the principal commercial agency of UK road cycling’s Tour of Britain, Women’s Tour, and the whole Tour Series.
Under the agreement, struck by the Tours' organizer and promoter SweetSpot, Orsen will be in charge of “leading the new business sales process across the Tours, including securing a title sponsor and generating new and innovative partnerships.”
The primary focus, initially, will be on securing commercial partners for the next Women’s Tour in June 2024, which is tentatively planned to start in Wales and end in Manchester.
The next men’s Tour, meanwhile, is scheduled for September 1 to 8 next year, with the 2023 edition having finished on Sunday (September 10) in Caerphilly, Wales.
There was no title sponsor or naming partner for the event this year.
Sean O’Reillt, chief executive at Orsen, said: “Adding the Women’s Tour to the SweetSpot portfolio has created a partnership proposition that delivers the fundamentals of a modern-day sponsorship, a market-leading property, community initiatives, promotion of health and active lifestyle, environmental sustainability, direct to consumer engagement and gender equality.
“We are excited to support the continued growth of the Tour of Britain and the Women’s Tour by developing meaningful brand partnerships together with the SweetSpot team.”
Hugh Roberts, SweetSpot’s chief executive, added: “We’re delighted to be working with Sean and his team at Orsen and to have an organization whose laser focus will be on securing a blue chip naming rights sponsor for the Tours. Orsen will be tasked with working very closely with the SweetSpot team to develop and grow the business model of the events after the adverse headwinds of the past three years.”
Last month, SweetSpot acted as the event delivery partner for the 2023 UCI Cycling World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland.
Those Cycling World Championships, which ran between August 3 and 13, will combine 13 existing UCI World Championships into one event across 11 days of competition for the first time.
