DMG world media has announced that EDF Energy will be the title sponsor partner for the Ideal Home Show 2009, which will be celebrating its 101st year when it takes place from 20 March to 13 April at Earls Court in London.

“EDF Energy’s long-term investment in sustainability initiatives and in particular its 2012 Carbon Challenge make it an excellent partner for our show,” said show director Robin Beaman.

“The 2009 show will focus on key issues affecting homeowners and renters today, offering cost effective and eco-friendly solutions to home improvement and maintenance for today’s tough economic climate.”

All visitors to the show will also be encouraged to join the 2012 Carbon Challenge by visiting the EDF Energy website www.savetodaysavetomorrow.com. The 2012 Carbon Challenge is an online coaching programme designed to help make homes more energy efficient and reduce their carbon footprint.

“Sponsorship of the Ideal Home Show gives EDF Energy the perfect opportunity to demonstrate how we are bringing sustainable energy solutions home to everyone,” said EDF Energy brand director Martin Stead. “The theme of the Ideal Home Show for 2009 is ‘improving rather than moving’, and we will be showcasing the many ways that EDF Energy can help visitors to achieve this aim through energy efficiency and innovative products which can help people to save today and save tomorrow.”

Exhibitors at this year’s show will range from big brand household names, to little known entrepreneurs and design students competing for the Innovation Nation prizes sponsored by the show. All will be bringing the latest product ideas in home and garden to ‘show and sell’ at Britain’s largest and longest established home show.

The Ideal Home Show 2009 organisers are promising “an interactive experience where visitors can not only get to touch and feel the latest products, but get face to face advice on issues from mortgages to meringues”. Among the many demonstration areas will be the Celebrity Chef Kitchen Theatre and the Smarter Living Showcase – a forum for the very latest thinking in household goods.

With the show’s overall theme this year being based on making the most of the home you live in rather than going to all the expense of moving, the two show homes will demonstrate how even the drabbest 1960’s house can be given a makeover that turns it into the home of your dreams.

“These days it’s fashionable to talk about ‘experiential marketing’,” said Mike Sommers, the show’s marketing director. “As far as we’re concerned, we’ve been doing it for over a hundred years! In this age of online offers, internet shopping and rapidly developing products, consumers need the opportunity to look at product ideas ‘in the round’, see them working in situ and to have complicated services explained in a personalised way. EDF Energy shares our enthusiasm for live marketing events, and we’re delighted they’re working with us.”

For further information, visit www.idealhomeshow.co.uk