Prince Appoints PR Agency Howard Harding Associates

Prince Sports Europe Ltd have appointed sports specialist PR agency Howard Harding Associates to raise the profile of the brand's activities in tennis, squash and badminton.

Prince is the industry leader in the development and manufacturing of performance racquet sports equipment. Prince Sports Europe, based in London and covering the European, Middle East and African markets, is the European headquarters of Prince Sports Inc, the US-based company which was formed last year following the acquisition of the Prince brand from the Benetton Group.

HHA founder Howard Harding has enjoyed a long career in sports PR, and in particular racquet sports. Amongst his clients are the World Squash Federation (WSF), the Professional Squash Association (PSA) and the Women's International Squash Players' Association (WISPA) - on whose joint behalf he acts as 'World Squash Media Director'. In 2003, Harding was honoured by the WSF with an award to commemorate his 'outstanding contribution' to World Squash over the past seven years.

Mike Ballardie, Vice President and Managing Director of Prince Sports Europe, said: "I am very pleased to welcome Howard Harding Associates to Prince. Since the launch of the new Prince company last year, I have recognised the need to bring in a professional to maximise the trade and consumer visibility of Prince as we rebuild the brand across Europe.

"Our initiatives, our innovative products, and the leading players across all our sports who use Prince, are generating news almost on a daily basis and now we will be able to exploit this.

"Howard will focus his PR effort on building a network of contacts across the general racquetsport trade and consumer media, governing bodies, Prince partners and distributors and agents," Ballardie added.

Harding is delighted at the new association: "It is a great privilege to be working with a brand that has such universal appeal, both from the standpoint of innovation and 'coolness'.

"I look forward to working closely with Mike and his team throughout Europe to enhance the profile of Prince as the brand of choice, offering performance equipment that will help players of all ages and abilities 'Rule the Court'," said Harding.

Prince Sports is an industry leader in the development and manufacturing of performance racquet sports equipment that is proven at the highest level of competition and used by both professional athletes and aspiring recreational players. The brand revolutionised the game of tennis with its introductions of the "Oversize", "Longbody"®, "Triple Threat"® and "More"® racquets; it reshaped squash with its innovative "Extender"®; "Triple Threat"® and " More"® racquets; and redefined badminton with both "Y-Joint" and "More"® technologies..

www.princesports.com