Sponsors of the 2000 Summer Games have "tried to
distance themselves from the Sydney ticketing woes by
cutting back" on Olympics-related advertising, according to
a survey cited by Jacquelin Magnay of the SYDNEY MORNING
HERALD. Martin Hirons, Dir of Sweeney Sports research firm,
said that the drop in advertising related to the Games "had
been evident since last October." Hirons: "Whether this was
planned or not, I am not sure, but it correlates to the same
period where there was a lot of publicity about contentious
issues, mainly ticketing. A lot of companies like Coca-
Cola, McDonald's, and Ansett had built up a momentum in the
market place but it has been lost, although I do know a lot
of companies have booked big advertising programs from June
onwards and plan to finish with a big bang." Sweeney's
Australians and Sport survey shows that public awareness of
many Olympic sponsors such as Telstra, Westpac, Ansett,
Holden and Coca-Cola "has fallen." Nike, which recently
signed on as a sponsor after Reebok's withdrawal, recorded
"the highest levels of spontaneous recognition" from the
public, with 26% of those polled aware of the company's
sponsorship. The report also shows that 41% of Sydney
residents and 40% of Melburnians "have been dissuaded from
buying" Olympic tickets "because of recent controversies."
The survey polled 1,500 people, aged 16 to 65, between
December and January (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 3/14).
SEMA ON BOARD: In Salt Lake City, Mike Gorrell writes
that the IOC "is counting on Sema Group to pull together a
variety of computer-reliant functions into a cohesive,
smoothly flowing system" beginning with the 2002 Games and
continuing through the 2008 Games. Yesterday, the IOC
signed Sema to a contract "described vaguely as being worth
several hundred million dollars." After the Sydney Games,
Sema "leads a consortium" with Gateway Inc. (hardware and
software), Seiko (timing) and Germany-based Wige-Mic (venue-
results distribution), that will replace IBM in handling IT.
Currently, Sema has three dozen employees working with the
SLOC in UT, plus another 100 developing application
technology in Barcelona. Sema Chief Integrator Robert
Cottam said that the UT contingent "should grow" to 50 by
year end and 150 by the 2002 Games (S.L. TRIBUNE, 3/14).
