John Hancock Mutual Life Insurance Co.'s four-year deal
to sponsor the Olympic Games through 2004 includes $25M in
fees and $24M in advertising and also "contains an ethics
clause that gives the company the right to withdraw at any
time if another scandal arises," according to Diane Lewis of
the BOSTON GLOBE. John Hancock President & CEO David
D'Alessandro: "What we did, which is something no other
sponsor of the Games has done, is insist on an ethics clause
that says if the Olympic movement conducts itself in a
manner that is detrimental to our brand, we can cancel our
contract at any time." Lewis writes that most agreements
with the IOC bind companies to the sponsorship once it is
signed, "making it impossible to break away during the life
of the contract, even when problems arise." John Hancock
"is believed to be the first major backer to negotiate an
agreement with an escape clause" (BOSTON GLOBE, 2/16).
D'Alessandro, on the clause: "It forces the IOC to pay more
attention because the sponsors can literally walk away if
there is any real damage to their brand because of their
association with the Olympics" (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, 2/16). IOC
VP Dick Pound said yesterday that the "morals clause" will
be included in all of the IOC's new sponsorship deals, but
that "any breach would have to be serious and cause
significant adverse effect on [the] company or sponsorship's
value." Pound: "There's nothing like a little external
discipline to keep your feet to the fire" (USA TODAY, 2/16).
D'Alessandro, who said last year that any corporate exec who
decides to sponsor the Olympic Games "would have been
derelict," agreed to pay more for its IOC sponsorship "to
quash the perception that his criticism was aimed at
leveraging a discount" (BOSTON HERALD, 2/16).
ALL IS FORGIVEN: D'Alessandro, who pulled out of
discussions with NBC for Olympic ads last year, spoke with
NBC Sports Chair Dick Ebersol yesterday "and agreed to begin
talks on a new contract worth about" $20M. Ebersol said
that NBC has already sold more than $750M in ads for Sydney,
up from the $670M sold for the '96 Atlanta Games. He added
that NBC "still has Olympic advertising space available in
the financial services category" (AP, 2/16).
