Excite Australia to Sponsor Sidney Cinema Event

Excite Australia signed a sponsorship agreement with Cinerent OpenAir Cinema, a harborside event that attracts thousands of people every summer.

As part of the package the event will be renamed Excite OpenAir Cinema in the year 2000. Spending was not disclosed.

“This marks Excite Australia’s first major sponsorship deal since launching in May this year. It is the ultimate launch of our 2000 marketing campaign,” said Excite Australia Marketing Manager Joanna Finlay.

Last summer more than 50,000 patrons attended the 33-night OpenAir Cinema season.

The 2000 program has been expanded to 35 nights and will feature a selection of premieres, classics and new releases including Star Wars Episode 1, Run Lola Run, Doug Liman’s GO, Austin Powers: The Spy who Shagged Me, Roberto Benigni’s Life is Beautiful and Stanley Kubrik’s Eyes Wide Shut.

Excite Australia plans an official Web site, too. The site will go live in mid December to coincide with tickets going on sale. “Cinerent OpenAir’s association with Excite Australia heralds a new era in interactive sponsorship,” said Cinerent OpenAir’s Rob Bryant.

“One of the interesting findings of 1999 audience research was that 73 percent of OpenAir patrons have access to the Internet. This is extraordinarily high. Having Excite as the major sponsor of the event creates the opportunity to use the Internet as a principal feature of event marketing,” said Bryant.