MUMBAI: Qatar based sports academy Aspire has announced a tie up with CNN International.
It will sponsor the show Sporting Legends. This is a series of vignettes highlighting legends in four categories of sports. Aspire will also sponsor World Sport's Play of the Day segment.
 
 
This is the first time that the academy has sponsored a segment on CNN. Sporting Legends highlights four icons in the world of Sports, in particular swimming, tennis, football, and athletics. Australian Ian Thorpe is showcased in the swimming category, the tennis segment features Pete Sampras, football is represented by Dutch footballer Johann Cruyff and athletics with the Moroccan runner Hicham El Gejjourj.

The year-long campaign will be seen in more than 110 million households and hotel rooms on CNN's Europe, Middle East and African feed. Aspire communications manager Neil Duncanson said, "The Aspire mission is to transform aspiring athletes in to world renown champions and we need this message to reach as many people as possible. Our agreement with CNN will allow us to reach a global audience, and enable us to unearth the best possible raw talent and sculpt them for stardom.

"While Sporting Legends will showcase heroes past and present, Aspire will create the heroes of the future. Our partnership with CNN dovetails perfectly." CNN International VP ad sales, Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa Rani Raad said, "We are delighted that Aspire has chosen CNN as the main platform on which to advertise its campaign.

 
 
"This is the first time that a sports academy advertises on CNN and we are delighted to have been able to offer Aspire a bespoke solution to communicate their messages to a global audience. This is the first campaign of its kind to air on CNN and we are proud to continue spearheading tailored communications solutions for clients."