More Of The Interview

Rob Prazmark, founder and president of 21 Marketing, has attended every Olympic Games since 1976. He was one of the original salesmen for the IOC’s TOP partnership program, and he’s currently working as a consultant to the U.S. Olympic Committee’s sales and marketing division. He took some time over the weekend to share his early impressions of the Games and thoughts on sponsorship marketing in Beijing.    Read More  >

Through two nights of Olympic coverage, NBC is averaging a 16.2/30 prime-time fast national Nielsen rating, up 22 precent from Athens in 2004 (13.3/25).

NBC’s Beijing Games coverage is on pace to be the most-watched Olympics in history, as through two days NBCU’s family of networks has attracted a record 114 million total viewers. That is 4 million more than Atlanta in 1996, which was the most-watched Olympics in history, and nearly 20 million more than Athens (95 million).    Read More  >

Today we again touch base with Mary O’Connor, who heads The Marketing Arm’s Olympic division and is in Beijing leading all Olympic sponsorship initiatives for the agency’s clients. She took time to answer our questions during the weekend from Beijing and will periodically answer our questions during the 17-day Games.    Read More  >

Spectator Dining And Shopping At The Venues

Venue concessions leave much to be desired in terms of service and product, but the price is right. The most expensive item is a box lunch for 20 yuan, or approximately $3. Or you can get an egg — I’m not sure what type of egg — for 2 yuan, or less than 30 cents. “Warm” beer is 5 yuan (less than $1). At first I ordered a sausage, thinking it might be a hot dog, but they handed me something round and yellow in shrink wrap. Needless to say, I handed it right back.    Read More  >