As part of a new IOC initiative, sporting goods
companies must consult with the IOC "about their marketing
campaigns" around the Games, according to Shawn Donnan of
the FINANCIAL TIMES. In return, "the companies can make use
of individual athletes' images and endorsement during the
Games -- something they were previously denied because of
IOC-approved contracts signed between athletes and their
national teams." Donnan: "The result is a peculiar one.
Advertising campaigns that might previously have been
condemned as an unofficial 'ambush' now have IOC approval."
One example is non-IOC sponsor adidas' new global campaign
that "boasts" that adidas athletes will take part in 26 of
the 28 sports in Sydney (FINANCIAL TIMES, 9/9).
RUNNING BEHIND ATLANTA: REUTERS cites IEG Sponsorship
Report as noting that SOCOG's $627M in sponsorship revenue
from 96 sponsors and suppliers paying $500,000-$20M each, is
down 24% from Atlanta's $826M take from 102 sponsors and
suppliers, who paid as much as $40M each. But SOCOG has
brought in $165M from worldwide TOP sponsors, while Atlanta
brought in $120M from TOP sponsors (REUTERS, 9/8).
THE UPSTATE NY CONNECTION: In Rochester, Ben Rand
reports on the strategies of IOC partners Kodak and Xerox in
Sydney. Xerox has "installed and networked 200 printers, 800
digital copiers and more than 800 facsimile machines across
the 34 venues for the Games." Xerox will also run a new TV
ad campaign. Kodak will not have special ads during the
Games, but "for the first time," it has established a Kodak
Image Center in Sydney, which will allow spectators to
experience digital photography (DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, 9/11).
