Merlin Entertainments has agreed a three-year partnership for its flagship London Eye with the electricity provider EDF Energy.
The deal gives EDF naming rights to Eye for the period, which includes the London 2012 Olympics, and will allow both parties to maximise opportunities through joint marketing activity.
Since 2009, a year after British Airways ended its sponsorship, Merlin acted as an interim “sponsor” by using the ride to boost its profile as Europe’s leading visitor attractions operator. The observation wheel will reopen as the EDF Energy London Eye towards the end of January after its annual two-week maintenance period.
Designed by the architects Marks Barfield and opened to mark London’s millennium celebrations, the London Eye has become one of Merlin’s premier attraction brands, recognised internationally and credited with sparking a “Ferris Wheel Renaissance.”
EDF Energy supplies around one-fifth of the UK’s electricity from a combination of nuclear, coal and gas power stations, as well as combined heat/power plants and wind farms. The French-owned company is also a tier one sponsor and the first sustainability partner for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. It now plans to use the Eye as, “a powerful way to help EDF Energy communicate our vision of a low carbon future.”
