Running Away From The Pack: Nike Gets Big Exposure As Main Sponsor Of Track & Field Trials

Nike has "spent millions for this level of visibility" at the USOTF Trials in Eugene, Ore., and marketing experts have said that the "return is immeasurable," according to a front-page piece by Sherri Buri McDonald of the Eugene REGISTER-GUARD. As the Trials’ lead sponsor, Nike “dominates the Fan Festival area next to Hayward Field with its ‘Camp Victory’ interactive pavilion and store.” It also has “heroic portraits of Nike-sponsored athletes on billboards throughout town and rolling by on city buses.” Marketing experts said that the company “benefits from the global media exposure, the opportunity to build brand loyalty among athletes and fans, and the chance to show off its innovations and new products.” Nike officials "aren't revealing how much the company is spending" on the Trials, "nor will they say much about how Nike’s presence at the Trials plays into the company’s overall marketing strategy.” They did acknowledge that Camp Victory, with its “interactive treadmill race competition, a speed tunnel simulating the speeds of Olympic runners and a footwear innovation area, is a step up from its retail tent" at the '08 Trials. Nike serves as the Trials’ “single gold-level sponsor, with Safeway and BP a rung below at the silver level.” McDonald notes other footwear and apparel manufacturers “can’t even get in the festival gates.” Bell+Funk co-Owner David Funk said that he “has seen Asics’s promotional truck driving around downtown Eugene.” Asics also “decked out its headquarters hotel, the Phoenix Inn on Franklin Boulevard, and the nearby Original Pancake House, where the company has been giving away cups of coffee, with banners and photos” (Eugene REGISTER-GUARD, 6/28).

ENJOYING THE SPOTLIGHT NOW: McDonald in a separate piece notes Nike gets “top billing” as the lead sponsor of the Trials, but the company “will be relegated to a lesser role at the Olympic Games in London.” adidas is the “flagship sportswear sponsor of the London Olympics, and its three-stripe logo will be all over the Olympic Park and Village.” adidas will have “exclusive licensing rights for sportswear at the London 2012 venues and store” (Eugene REGISTER-GUARD, 6/28).