Tuesday, July 03, 2007

Happy Swiss!

Although it wasn’t the reason I got a phone call from Peter Thoma in Rorschach, Switzerland, the first thing out of his mouth was, “We won!”

I said, in my best Schweiz-Deutsch, “Huh?”

Peter (Chairman of Swiss advertising agency ET&H and a long-time colleague) patiently explained that the Swiss yacht had won the America’s Cup: “Alinghi won the 32nd America's Cup 5-2 against Team New Zealand on Tuesday, in a regatta widely hailed as the most exciting in recent history,” according to TVNZ.

For those less up-to-the-minute than Peter and the rest of Switzerland, Alinghi is the name of the really quite gorgeous boat, and the defending yacht club, established in the Year 0, is Société Nautique de Genève.

With its first victory in the Year 3, Alinghi brought the America’s Cup back to Europe for the first time in 152 years. It looks like the Cup’s going to stay there. In Switzerland – that well-known yachting nation.

Sports promoters take note: UBS and other Swiss sponsors are going to make a killing over this, PR-wise. Und so, Peter, Glückwünsche zu alles!

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