Aside from taking home the gold, Team USA’s top priority in Rio is renewing sponsor deals.
With that in mind, the U.S. Olympic Committee’s marketing staff is laying the charm on thick at the USA House on Ipanema Beach, starting with an open house for sponsors on Aug. 3 and continuing with a series of hospitality events throughout the Rio Games.
With just five months left in the year, the USOC has 11 current sponsors that have yet to renew beyond 2016 but have not publicly said they’re leaving.
On the eve of the opening ceremony, Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Baird disclosed that United Airlines, Smucker’s and Kellogg Co. have all renewed through 2020 in recent weeks, and building materials maker USG also has extended its deal. But other high-profile names remain unsigned, including Citi, TD Ameritrade, Budweiser, AT&T and Dick’s Sporting Goods.
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USOC CMO Lisa Baird said that three partners have renewed.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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“We’ve been really excited to get a lot of these deals done before the Games,” Baird said. “That’s a great position for us.”
BMW will not be returning because Toyota assumes worldwide Olympics rights in 2017.
USOC rights deals vary widely by category, but most are worth between $1 million and $3 million per year. Sources familiar with recent negotiations say the governing body has been seeking increases of upward of 20 percent for the upcoming quadrennium.
Using Rio as a sales tool is a somewhat complicated proposition. VIP access to the Olympics and hospitality at one of the world’s iconic beaches is a good start, but domestic rights holders cannot activate in Brazil, other than inside the USA House.
“Our value proposition is so different because it really is at its highest point during the Olympic Games, so the enthusiasm and passion, the emotion, is never higher than when you’re at the Games,” said USOC Chief Executive Officer Scott Blackmun. “The opportunity to have the sponsors here is the best opportunity to remind them why this is a property that will resonate with their brand. … Even if they can’t activate on the ground in Rio.”
Baird and staff are leaning on social media to amplify in-house activations. Through a deal announced last week to make Twitter the exclusive social media platform of USA House, the platform will help sponsors bring American social media users into their displays, such as the BMW-designed Paralympic racing wheelchair on display. Also, sponsors will host their own events for Rio visitors, like a Hershey’s celebration of National S’mores Day on Wednesday.
Tina Davis, director of sponsorships and marketing at Citi, attended the sponsor open house just a few hours after arriving in Rio last Wednesday. The event included Brazilian hospitality staples like pulled pork and caipirinhas, and plenty of personal attention.
Citi has created mosaic artwork on the rooftop terrace, and will use the house to meet with foreign and American expatriate clients. “This is an opportunity to extend your rights as a global company, a global bank,” Davis said. “It’s a money-can’t-buy experience.”
But, she said, Citi probably would not begin seriously negotiating until after the Games conclude and the parties return home. Baird said she doesn’t intend to push the issue, either, instead focusing on helping sponsors make the most of the Olympics time window.
“If someone offered a renewal, I wouldn’t turn it down,” she said.
Also while in Rio, USA House will host guests from Korean and Japanese companies with rights to the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, and the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games. Baird is hoping some of them will want to obtain American Olympic rights.
