The IOC is "moving closer to running a branded ad
campaign aimed at polishing its image," according to George
Lazarus of the CHICAGO TRIBUNE. An annual ad budget of up
to $150M had been "bandied about for this campaign, but it
will be substantially less, perhaps a third of that amount,
when TV commercials and print ads surface." The IOC
"doesn't expect the campaign to begin until early 2000."
Young & Rubicam, NY, and TBWA/Chiat Day, CA, are the agency
finalists, and the "compensation isn't much, believed to be
a minimal fee arrangement." Lazarus writes that "as it
stands," IOC ads will run on broadcast partner NBC, as well
as TOP sponsor, Time Warner's SI. Today, the USOC begins a
new print campaign with a four-page ad in USA Today
featuring Olympic medal winners with the tag, "Who's Our
Next Hero?" A source tells Lazarus that USA Today is
"running these ads as freebies," because of the support of
the Games by its parent, Gannett. The ads will run in Time,
People, Fortune and SI (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 6/24). The ads
come as Olympic athletes celebrated Int'l Olympic Day on
Capitol Hill yesterday, part of the USOC's effort "to shift
the focus from the Salt Lake City scandal to the athletes."
The AP's Larry Siddons writes that the Capitol "stage was
limited to athletes" (AP/WASHINGTON POST, 6/24).
