John Hancock Financial Announces Launch of Twitter Site Twitter.Com/Jhfs_Boston26 to Celebrate 25th Anniversary of Boston Marath
January 26 2010 - 9:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
BOSTON, Jan. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In celebration of its
25th anniversary as the principal sponsor of the Boston Marathon,
John Hancock Financial today launched a Twitter site that will
provide tweets about the 114th running of the race and related
activities to race followers and marathon enthusiasts. Content for
the site will include tweets on John Hancock's partnership with the
Boston Athletic Association, the John Hancock Elite Athlete
Program, its Non-profit Bib Program, Employee Running and
Fundraising Program, Marathon community initiatives, and additional
Boston Marathon sponsorship news and information. It also will
include tweets about the marathoning world and its top runners,
including those who will be participating in this year's race.
Followers are invited to access tweets at
http://twitter.com/JHFS_Boston26. "With our new Twitter site, we
will be able to provide ongoing information about the race and John
Hancock's 25-year sponsorship to everyone who loves the Boston
Marathon and loves to run," said Rob Friedman, head of Sports
Marketing at John Hancock. "We intend to provide tweets on
everything from updates on our elite field of athletes to updates
on our amateur runners giving the course at Boston a first try. We
hope followers will find the information useful, informative and
entertaining. We hope the twitterverse will share our enthusiasm
for the world's oldest annual, and, we think, greatest marathon."
John Hancock began its landmark sponsorship in 1986 and over the
past 25 years has provided substantial financial support to ensure
the ongoing success of the race. Each year, John Hancock has
recruited and sponsored a world class, elite athlete field for the
race and has provided $13 million in prize and bonus awards. The
Company continues that tradition for this year's race on April 19th
offering a prize purse of $806,000, plus $220,000 for performance
bonuses. Employees of Hancock volunteer to help with
marathon-related tasks and also participate in the race to raise
money for local charities. Together with Hancock's Non-profit Bib
entrants, $3.7 million was donated last year. Manulife employees
who ran the Marathon also raised money for their designated
charities. This fundraising and volunteer effort was part of
Hancock's $10.6 million and 10,000 volunteer hours of total support
given to Boston area non-profit and community service programs in
2009. Additionally, during race week Hancock provides resources for
the Boston Marathon Kenya Project and the Adopt-a-Marathoner
program, provides a wide range of financial support and services to
the towns and cities along the Marathon route, and sponsors the
John Hancock Sports & Fitness Expo that draws 200 exhibitors
and 80,000 visitors. Hancock also assists thousands of local,
national and international media representatives who arrive in
Boston to cover the race, produces media materials, and provides
the use of several facilities to media outlets. The direct and
indirect economic value to the community of the Boston Marathon
weekend has been calculated to be nearly $110 million per year,
according to Greater Boston Convention & Visitor Bureau. "John
Hancock is proud that their financial commitment and partnership
with the Boston Athletic Association helps the City to continue to
host one of the world's premier marathons," Mr. Friedman said.
About John Hancock and Manulife Financial Manulife Financial is a
leading Canadian-based financial services group serving millions of
customers in 22 countries and territories worldwide. Operating as
Manulife Financial in Canada and Asia, and primarily through John
Hancock in the United States, the Company offers clients a diverse
range of financial protection products and wealth management
services through its extensive network of employees, agents and
distribution partners. Funds under management by Manulife Financial
and its subsidiaries were Cdn$436.5 billion (US$407.1 billion) as
at September 30, 2009. Manulife Financial Corporation trades as
'MFC' on the TSX, NYSE and PSE, and under '945' on the SEHK.
Manulife Financial can be found on the Internet at
http://www.manulife.com/. The John Hancock unit, through its
insurance companies, comprises one of the largest life insurers in
the United States. John Hancock offers a broad range of financial
products and services, including life insurance, fixed and variable
annuities, fixed products, mutual funds, 401(k) plans, long-term
care insurance, college savings, and other forms of business
insurance. Additional information about John Hancock may be found
at http://www.johnhancock.com/. DATASOURCE: John Hancock Financial
Services CONTACT: Brian Carmichael of John Hancock,
+1-617-663-4748, Web Site: http://www.johnhancock.com/
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