Hallmark has become a sponsor of the 2002 Winter Games
in Salt Lake City and the 2002 & 2004 U.S. Olympic Teams.
Hallmark will become the Official Supplier of Personal
Expression Products to the teams. The deal marks Hallmark's
first major sponsorship deal (Hallmark). The SLOC receives
"cash as well as donated products" in the deal worth around
$20M to the SLOC and USOC (SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 9/20).
MARKETING NOTES: Responding to "pressure" from int'l
adoption agencies, John Hancock Financial Services has
changed a TV ad running during the Games. The ad featured
two women "holding an Asian infant, presumably having just
adopted the child." Though the baby had not been
"identified as Chinese, adoption agencies were concerned
that the Chinese government would assume the child was from
China and that the homosexuality of the parents had been
blessed by the American adoption officials." Now the child
is identified as Cambodian (WALL STREET JOURNAL, 9/20).
...TOP sponsor UPS is "turbocharging its Sydney presence
during the Games through a special fleet of Harley Davidson
motorcycles which have the task of transporting film for
Games photographers" (AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW,
9/19)....Canadian badminton player Brent Olynyk could earn
up to $100,000 in endorsements in the Far East if he wins
the Gold. While "overlooked in North America," badminton is
"among the most popular" sports in Japan and China
(BLOOMBERG, 9/20)....Gold Medal Management's Brad Hunt: "For
every Olympic champion who was able to capitalize on an
Olympic gold medal in a way that makes them economically
secure for years or a lifetime, there are hundreds of
Olympic gold medalists who don't" (MSNBC, 9/19).
