As the daughter of an Air Force major, Tina Davis lived in Spain and Japan growing up, but her time in Europe and Asia never overlapped with an Olympics. Next year’s Summer Games in London will be her first Olympics, and she is doing everything she can to get ready for it.
Citi earlier this year signed an agreement to become the official bank of the U.S. Olympic Committee and NBC, and the company is scrambling to put together a marketing plan to take advantage of those assets prior to the opening ceremony next July. Davis, who is heading that effort, has taken a crash course in the Olympics. She has learned everything from what the International Olympic Committee does to how many international sports federations exist.
“You don’t just create an Olympic pin,” said Davis, who was at Wieden+Kennedy before joining Citi. “You have one for 100 days out; you have one for the opening ceremonies. That was a new lesson.”
Davis is trying to take all of those lessons and use them to help Citi as it looks to make the most of its USOC partnership. The company, at the direction of Davis and chief brand officer Dermot Boden, is in the process of trying to evolve from using sports sponsorships as a media platform for exposure to using them as a means to engage with customers more deeply, to boost employee morale, and to drive business across its divisions, from employee relations to government affairs.
— Tripp Mickle
