BACARDI Rum and Boston Celtics Announce Multi-Year Integrated Partnership

Business Wire, Nov 6, 2006

BACARDI Rum Slam Dunks Spirit-Brand Partnership with NBA Team

MIAMI -- BACARDI Rum and The Boston Celtics today announced a three-year agreement naming BACARDI Rum an exclusive partner of the Boston Celtics. BACARDI and The Celtics will work together to promote the BACARDI brand while emphasizing social responsibility.

"BACARDI Rum and the Boston Celtics are two powerhouse brands with great heritage; these iconic brands represent quality, tradition, authenticity and sociability," said Shane M. Graber, BACARDI Rum national group marketing manager. "The Celtics are 16-time World Champions, and that's the type of winning organization that complements BACARDI Rum, the world's favorite premium rum brand."

During the upcoming 2006-07 season, BACARDI Rum and the Celtics will host post-game events at a variety of Boston-area locations. Throughout the partnership, BACARDI Rum will support team, ownership and player charity events and participate in event appearances by Celtics legends and members of the Celtics Dance Team.

"Boston is a 'sports town,' and this partnership gives the BACARDI Rum brand a great way to connect with adult consumers," said Brandy Toth, BACARDI Rum New England division marketing manager. "Most importantly, the Celtics partnership will help BACARDI Rum deliver a social responsibility message to an even larger audience in the Greater Boston area."

"The Celtics look forward to working with BACARDI Rum to help them reach their 21 target consumers in the New England market," said Sean Barror, Celtics Vice President of Corporate Partnerships. "We are pleased to add BACARDI Rum to our sponsor roster as an exciting brand and valued partner."

Social responsibility will be an integral piece in communications. This will include radio, print and broadcast messages urging legal-drinking aged consumers to drink responsibility.

About BACARDI Rum

In 1862, Don Facundo Bacardi revolutionized the spirits industry when he created BACARDI Rum in Santiago de Cuba, the world's first light bodied rum.

BACARDI Rum is America's most popular premium spirit and the world's favorite rum. Today, BACARDI Rum is produced in Puerto Rico, following the production legacy set forth by Don Facundo - crafted in a five step distillation process, aged in American white oak barrels, and filtered five times for unparalleled quality and smoothness. Renowned for its unsurpassed mixability, BACARDI Rum is enjoyed with cola, Mojito cocktails, daiquiris and coladas and with juices, soda, or on the rocks.

About the Boston Celtics

A charter member of the Basketball Association of America (which evolved into the National Basketball Association) since 1946, the Boston Celtics have won a record 16 NBA Championships, including eight (8) in a row from 1959-1966, and have won NBA titles in three different eras. In addition, 31 former Celtics players, management or staff have been inducted in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In December 2002 the team returned to local ownership for the first time since 1963. For more information on the Celtics, log on to www.celtics.com.