USOC Deputy Secretary General John Krimsky said that
companies spending millions of dollars to sponsor the 2002
Salt Lake Games "should soon become more visible to Utahns,"
according to Lisa Riley Roche of the DESERET NEWS. Several
companies, including Texaco and General Motors, have already
sent teams to UT to participate in a sponsor program put
together by OPUS. So far, OPUS has signed 10 sponsors, with
Coca-Cola the only worldwide sponsor. The number of
national sponsors "is expected to double." Of the current
sponsors, Riley Roche wrote that US WEST is the "most active
locally," and it "expects to have some pavilion space" in
downtown Salt Lake during the Games (DESERET NEWS, 3/29).
OLYMPIC NOTES: Two business publications, Asia Pulse
and PR Newswire, evaluated "initial responses" of sponsors
of the Nagano Games. Asia Pulse "found the companies to be
satisfied." But David Grant, Senior VP/ClarionPerformance
Properties, told PR Newswire that "consistent with the
disappointment in rating, coverage and advertising, not a
single sponsor took the Olympic rings and made them work to
their fullest" (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 3/29)....Dean Rotundo Dir
of Olympics Activities & Media Relations at GM Corp.'s N.A.
Operations, is profiled in AD AGE. Rotundo, on GM's
sponsorship of the upcoming Sydney Games: "We want to make
sure we go after this the right way organizationally."
Rotundo also said that GM "may have diluted itself having
too many brands involved" in its '96 Atlanta Games Olympic
sponsorship (Jean Halliday, AD AGE, 3/30 issue).
