VA-based direct marketing and e-mail services provider
LifeMinders "was picked by" IBM to "deliver free customized"
daily e-mail updates of Olympics news for olympics.com to
"millions of Web users" worldwide, according to Terence Chea
of the WASHINGTON POST. LifeMinders will "neither pay nor
get paid" by IBM, but LifeMinders Chair & CEO Stephen Chapin
said that when visitors sign up for the eNewsletter, they
are also offered the company's regular e-mail services
(WASHINGTON POST, 9/15)....The INDUSTRY STANDARD's Joyce
Slaton wrote that the USOC has launched the "E-mail That
Gives" program with eGenerosity.com. Fans who register at
usoc.org will receive a free "usolympicfan.com" e-mail
account and "eGenerosity.com sponsors donate" $0.01 to the
U.S. Olympic Team for each message sent. USOC sources do
not yet have figures on how much the U.S. team has received
via the program (INDUSTRY STANDARD, 9/13).
TOP O' THE SPONSOR TO YA: TOP sponsor John Hancock
Financial Services has invited about 500 "top" sales agents
to Sydney, "both as a reward and for retraining." The
mornings are "devoted to business" and the rest of the day
for "fun and games" (BOSTON GLOBE, 9/15)....Coca-Cola "is
not only bringing out" Chair Douglas Daft, an Australia
native, for the Games, but also the regional presidents of
its five global divisions (MSNBC.com, 9/14)....Following a
three-year marketing initiative in Australia, Visa Int'l
head of Australian operations Bruce Mansfield said that card
subscriptions had "jumped markedly this year, by around"
15%. But "it has not been all good news" for the TOP
sponsor, as Visa is still not accepted in taxis in Sydney,
"following the dispute" over the use of a 10% surcharge
(AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW, 9/15). Meanwhile, Visa Senior
VP/Int'l Marketing Partnerships & Sponsorship Tom Shepard
said that he "believes an Olympic sponsorship is valuable if
it is properly leveraged." Shepard: "(It is a good value)
only if we put our resources behind fully marketing the
Games. (It) only provides a platform from which you can
market. If you recognise that and market it, it can
certainly pay dividends" (AUSTRALIAN FIN. REVIEW, 9/15).
HOW DO YA LIKE ME NOW? Scientific Atlanta and Home
Depot, both GA-based ACOG sponsors of the '96 Games, have
"posted big, market-beating gains" since the Games ended in
'96. Shares in four of the other publicly-traded GA-based
ACOG sponsors -- BellSouth, Southern Co., Delta and Coca-
Cola -- "are up but well below" the 95.4% rise in the Dow
Jones average, the S&P's 500 rise of 124.3% and the high-
tech NASDAQ composite increase of 249.3%. Shares of three
'96 TOP Games sponsors have declined: Xerox by 40%, Eastman
Kodak by 18% and Bausch & Lomb by 2% (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION,
(9/15)....ET's Julie Moran, on U.S. sprinter Michael
Johnson's gold Nike shoes: "Michael told me that if you
think those gold shoes were flashy, wait until you see the
new ones. He won't reveal the color, but he told me, 'They
will be something to see'" ("ET," 9/14).
