Dow Chemical Co. is leveraging Rio 2016 in all the usual ways a B-to-B sports sponsor does: insider tours with clients showing all the behind-the-scenes help it’s given the Olympics this year, pursuing media attention for its more advanced projects and hospitality for potential clients.
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| Louis Vega, Dow Chemical chief of staff and vice president of Olympic and sports solutions |
But with two major strategic corporate moves pending for the IOC sponsor, Dow is focusing on the end user with some classic consumer marketing for the first time. In June, shareholders approved a $130 billion merger with DuPont Co., just weeks after Dow finished buying out its longtime joint venture partner Corning Inc. Dow, though, had been reconsidering its strategic position long before those transactions, said Louis Vega, chief of staff and vice president of Olympic and sports solutions.
“We’ve changed a lot, and that has brought us here today,” said Vega, speaking from Dow’s “Sustainability Lounge” at Rio 2016 press headquarters. The reclaimed wood paneled, environmentalist themed room is meant to emphasize Dow’s role in helping Rio 2016 build the Olympic infrastructure with a light environmental footprint.
“We’ve been on a steady path of very focused strategic journey that’s a bit of reintroducing ourselves to customers past and present, and introducing ourselves to people who didn’t realize they could be our customers, and we could offer solutions to them,” Vega said.
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Mattresses made by Dow customers carry a "Dow inside" logo in five Latin American markets.
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Dow has two separate deals with the Games, a worldwide rights deal with the IOC as official chemical company and a local deal with Rio 2016 as official carbon partner, focused on helping the organizers offset its carbon emissions.
Key to the Dow effort, Vega said, is more effectively telling the world about its very behind-the-scenes role in the Games. For instance, Dow developed a new polyurethane that found its way through the supply chain into the 25,000 mattresses at the Athletes’ Village. “It doesn’t sound sexy to you, but I’m sure the athletes are very, very happy they’re sleeping comfortably,” Vega said.
Now, mattresses made by Dow industrial customers carry a “Dow inside” logo in five Latin American markets. It’s the first time Dow has branded consumer goods, and the company’s end-user mattress maker customer is adopting a sleep-like-an-Olympian marketing strategy.
“We’re trying to learn from our brethren, the Cokes, our partners at the IOC and the [national Olympic committees], and our partners at the [organizing committees,]” Vega said. “We’re all learning together about how a B-to-B partner can help them and how we can help enable their success.”
Dow has helped Rio 2016 with bigger, less easily marketed value-in-kind services, including providing polyurethane for irrigation and drainage pipes and polyurethane for flooring at the renovated Maracanã Stadium, and wire, cable, insulation and finishing for the arenas at Barra Olympic Park.
