CHARLES SCHWAB JOINS AMERICAONE’S AMERICA’S CUP CA
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & AUCKLAND, New Zealand, January 10, 2000 Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., a leading financial services firm, today announced its sponsorship of AmericaOne, the San Francisco-based challenger for Americas Cup 2000, on behalf of the St. Francis Yacht Club. As a first time sponsor of an Americas Cup contender, Schwabs decision to become involved in this unique sports marketing medium was motivated by significant ties to its established business in the Pacific Rim marketplace.
The sponsorship includes prominent Web exposure and branding opportunities onboard AmericaOnes two racing yachts USA 49 and USA 61, as the AmericaOne Team vies for sailings most coveted trophy.
“We’ve done our homework on the America’s Cup and it made good business sense for us to work with AmericaOne for a number of reasons,” explained Len Short, Executive Vice President of Advertising & Brand Management. “The demographics of the average sailing audience synergistically fits with our core target at Schwab. The global nature of sailing ties in with our international expansion efforts this new millennium. Supporting one of the leading syndicates headquartered out of our hometown made this an easy decision to make.”
To have such a reputable financial services firm back our syndicate because we make good business sense, is a testament to the increasing value of sailing as a sports marketing tool, an enthusiastic Paul Cayard, Skipper & CEO of AmericaOne explains. To grow the Americas Cup into the 21st century, we need partners with influence, that further add to our credibility. Charles Schwab, has done a very nice job at helping to take golf to the next level and we feel that sailing is on course to follow this path.
The high-tech yacht is currently competing in the Louis Vuitton Cup Challenger Races in Auckland, New Zealand in preparation for Americas Cup 2000.
About Charles Schwab, Inc.
Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. serves 6.4 million active accounts with $700 billion in customer assets. Schwab provides a full-service investing experience to customers through a multi-dimensional offering of the Internet, 341 branch offices, speech recognition and touch-tone telephone technologies, multilingual and international technologies, and direct access to professionals day or night. Schwabs international presence includes, Hong Kong and new Pacific Rim partnerships in Australia and Japan.
Schwab online investors transact over $11 billion in securities through each week. Schwab has won numerous awards for its leadership in technology, including the Global Information Infrastructure
Award for the Top Commerce site, the CIO 100 Award, PC World’s 1999 World Class Award for the best Web Brokerage Site and has been recognized by Business 2.0 as one of the 100 Hottest Companies on the Net. Schwab has been a pioneer in online investing and has been a leader in customer technologies for 15 years. Member SIPC/NYSE.
About AmericaOne
AmericaOne is one of the leading challengers for America’s Cup 2000. The team is currently competing in Auckland, New Zealand for the Louis Vuitton Cup and the right to challenge New Zealand for the America’s Cup in February 2000. AmericaOne has built two boats based on four years of technology development and innovation. The top-level technology partners are Hewlett-Packard Company, Telcordia Technologies, SAIC, Ford Motor Company/Visteon, United Technologies Corp. and Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. AmericaOne represents San Francisco’s St. Francis Yacht Club. To learn more about the team visit: www.americaone.org.
