Medal Stand: Visa Well Prepared For Phelps' 10th Gold Medal
Each day during the Summer Olympics, THE DAILY is offering our take on the business performances of some of the people, sponsors, broadcasters and other entities around Beijing.
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MEDAL
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MEDALIST
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GOLD: VISA -- The credit card company was ready with a "Go World" congratulatory ad for Michael Phelps following the first commercial break after he won a record 10th career Olympic gold medal. Pretty standard stuff in our industry, but still a nice touch to what so far has been the story of the Games.
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SILVER: NBC DIGITAL -- The network's online offering continues to smash records, generating nearly 300 million page views and 17 million unique users in the Games' first four days. The network is up against an astute audience here, trying to please tech savvy surfers who are up to speed on the latest. So far, they've passed this test and the numbers prove it. |
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BRONZE: CRIS COLLINSWORTH -- We easily could give this to Bela Karolyi, and wonder why he’s even on NBC’s broadcasts with the clear conflict of interest. But we’ll save that for another day. Today, it’s Cris Collinsworth. We like Cris, we find him smart, engaging and talented. But his assignments in Beijing have been baffling. Watching Dara Torres doing her workout and then trying some of her routines? Then sitting with Michael Phelps’ mother and high-fiving and cheering during her son’s race? Egad, all enough to make one squirm. And the “Golly gee, Bob Costas, I’m having a gosh-darn good time here!!” act just does not fit someone of his caliber. |
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TIN: OLYMPIC GREEN -- Despite the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee's pledge to "encourage" visitors to the Olympic Green, crowds remain sparse because of the need to have event tickets to enter the area. Sponsors have to be pulling their hair out as they wait in their largely empty multimillion-dollar Olympic showcases. |
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