Canon Europa becomes first WWF 'Conservation Partner'
June 9th, 1998
Gland, Switzerland: WWF -World Wide Fund For Nature has
chosen Canon Europa as its first Conservation Partner.
The union will bring significant benefits to nature and Canon.
WWF reserves the title of Conservation Partner for its major
corporate sponsors.
A major element of the sponsorship is the transformation of
WWF's Photolibrary, located in Gland, into a state-of-the-art
electronic resource that will be a strategic support to WWF's
communications.
"With our shared vision of harmony between humankind and
the environment, Canon is a natural partner for WWF," says
Dr Claude Martin, Director General of WWF International.
"Now Canon technology and financial support will apply that
vision towards increasing WWF's effectiveness, helping to
leave our children a living planet."
WWF gets its message across worldwide through its range
of print, television and Internet publicity. Its comprehensive
stock of nature slides are used extensively through its
network of organisations and by commercial users. "Canon's
help in digitizing its images, so that they can be instantly
available electronically, will be crucial in raising
environmental awareness and encouraging conservation.
"In fact, the Canon sponsorship goes beyond the photolibrary.
In practical terms, this means that WWF's activities in
Europe, Africa and the Middle East will receive funding from
Canon over the initial three-year term of the sponsorship.
"Visual communication is of course an obvious common
interest for WWF and Canon," explains Mr Hajime
Katayama, President of Canon Europa. ABut as we develop
our relationship with WWF, we recognise that we can also
further its conservation work in other ways, which fit well with
Canon's corporate philosophy and business activities."
But nature is not the only beneficiary - Canon too will reap
important publicity advantages as a WWF Conservation
Partner. Every WWF-owned image will include the word
'Canon' in its accompanying photo credit. The partnership
will be featured on WWF's award winning website,
PANDA.ORG, along with a WWF-Canon 'photo gallery'
showing a selection of WWF's nature slides.
Canon Europa will also have access to one of the world's
most recognised symbols B WWF's Panda logo -in a
newly-created Conservation Partner format, to indicate its
special relationship with WWF. The partnership will be
launched later this month and is likely to be followed by other
high-profile associations between WWF and leading
companies.
For further information, please contact Steve Drayton at
WWF International Phone : +41 22 3649317
Notes
Sponsoring
Canon's sponsorship of WWF adds a new dimension to the
company's long established sponsoring programme. Dating
back to the mid 1970s, Canon has sponsored the world's
leading sports events, such as Formula One motor racing,
the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League, the PGA
Golf Tour and the Wimbledon and French Open Tennis
Championships. In the field of education and culture, Canon
supports the World Press Photo, the Royal Concertegebouw
and the Canon Foundation academic exchange programme.
Canon
Canon is a $21 billion company and recognised as one of the
world's leading companies in business machines, including
imaging systems and computer input/output devices,
cameras and optical products. With its European
headquarters in Amstelveen, The Netherlands, Canon posted
sales of $6.0 billion in Europe in 1997.
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