The USOC took a page from Madison Avenue last night, hosting its version of an upfront soiree in Manhattan to sell sponsorships ahead of the '16 Rio Games. The USOC rented a reception space near the Empire State Building for a two-hour cocktail party, allowing attendees a chance to meet Olympians Ryan Lochte, David Boudia, Tina Charles and Tatyana McFadden. USOC CMO Lisa Baird conducted short Q&As with the athletes -- in between a steady onslaught of selfie-seekers -- and showed clips of their heroics from the '12 London Games. The night’s target audience was current USOC corporate partners looking for new activation opportunities and potential sponsors of specific digital content. One of Baird’s messages for the night: It is not too early to sponsor Olympic content, even if the Games are still 13 months away. While attention obviously will peak in July and August '16, USOC research has found a core group of enthusiasts are already paying attention to the Olympics. The USOC is hoping to extend the Olympic sales cycle with digital content like “Cooking with Team USA and Brian Boitano Presented by Kellogg’s,” an ongoing series of health-conscious cooking web videos featuring Olympic athletes. “In the next 409 days, Team USA will bring you stories, videos, and photos of hundreds of athletes in 46 sports, and lookbacks into history with Olympic legends like Mary Lou Retton, Carl Lewis and even Caitlyn Jenner,” Baird told guests. "There’s always something happening in the Olympics in America." The reception, dubbed the “NewView,” launched prior to the '14 Sochi Games, and the USOC brought back the concept for a second try. “We’ve got to sell a relationship with USOC,” Baird said. “So part of it always is to get in front of new people that are interested, and so from this, it could be something they want to do with us in digital content, could be sponsorships or frankly it could be a relationship with NBC, which is just as good." Senior NBC officials, including Senior VP/Olympic Ad Sales Paul Wilson and Senior VP/Strategic Partnerships Brett Goodman, were in attendance.
