(ATR) Leaders of major NOCs visited New York City this week for briefings on the state of marketing programs within the Olympic movement.
It's the fourth seminar for NOCs held since the Netherlands hosted the first in 2010.The British Olympic Association posted the 2012 seminar followed by one held in Lausanne organized by the IOC.
The daylong meeting in Manhattan included 18 NOCs: Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, US and South Africa.The British Olympic Association posted the 2012 seminar followed by one held in Lausanne organized by the IOC.
The daylong meeting in Manhattan included 18 NOCs: Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, US and South Africa.The British Olympic Association hosted the 2012 seminar followed by one held in Lausanne organized by the IOC.
The daylong meeting in Manhattan included 18 NOCs: Australia, New Zealand, China, Korea, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, US and South Africa.
IOC marketing director Timo Lumme led the seminar, which reviewed the latest activities of the worldwide sponsorship program known as TOP.
Sponsor P&G made a presentation on brand building and ISM, the IOCinteractive entertainment licensee, reported on video game development and youth engagement.
Lumme also reported on Olympic Agenda 2020, the wide-ranging review of changes for the IOC initiated by President Thomas Bach. Included in the Olympic Agenda program is an analysis of the IOC marketing activities.
Wednesday afternoon, USOC chair Larry Probst hosted a session of the Marketing and New Sources of Finance Commission for the Association of National Olympic Committees created in March. The commission is part of efforts of ANOC president Sheikh Ahmad to modernize the organization and increase its funding beyond receiving a share of IOC revenues.
The commission heard reports about USOC marketing and from US broadcast rights holder NBC, the single biggest source of revenue for the IOC.
Probst will report on the work of his commission, which has met once before, at the ANOC general assembly in Bangkok, Thailand in November.
Among those at the ANOC commission meeting in New York were presidents of the Olympic committees of France, Italy, Japan, Chile and South Africa.
Italian NOC President Giovanni Malago says the meeting was helpful.
"It was a very interesting meeting. We discussed many topics focused on marketing.
I had a good impression of marketing system of the USA NOC. In general there was a fruitful exchange of ideas."
McDonald’s Engages Consumers
Consumers can ask McDonald’s directly what is in their food.
The fast food giant has set up a website called "Our Food. Your Questions." for consumers in the United States to encourage interaction with McDonald’s. Visitors will be able to ask questions, comments, and read responses directly from the company.
"We're inviting everyone in the U.S. on a journey to learn more about our food," Kevin Newell, executive vice president of McDonald’s USA, said in a statement.
"We look forward to the opportunity to have an open conversation and to show people firsthand how we make our most iconic menu items."
This is not the first time McDonald’s has used direct interaction with consumers, having launched similar websites in both Canada and Australia.
Questions that have been answered range from topics about what is in McDonald’s food, the use of controversial meat additive "pink slime," to health concerns, and if the McRib will be offered year round.
Panasonic Extends Paralympic Sponsorship
Panasonic is now the fifth worldwide partner of the International Paralympic Committee.
The Japanese electronics company will provide the IPC with televisions, broadcast equipment, media storage, car navigation and audio visual security equipment for the next three Paralympics, along with disability care products through the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.
Terms of the deal were not announced.
IPC president Phil Craven and Panasonic CEO Satoshi Takeyasu signed the agreement in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Panasonic joins Atos, Ottobock, Samsung and Visa as IPC Worldwide Partners. Atos, Panasonic, Samsung, and Visa are also IOC TOP Sponsors.
"Together with the first worldwide Paralympic partnership agreement we signed today with IPC, we are extremely happy to be the official worldwide partner for both the Olympic and the Paralympic Movement," Takeyasu said at the signing ceremony.
"We are proud to announce our commitment to support IPC and the Paralympic Games, and to keep providing accessibility for all with our products and services."
Panasonic has sponsored the IPC since the 1998 Paralympics in Nagano, through supplying of select audio visual products. The new deal begins immediately and will cover the rest of 2014, the 2016 and 2020 Summer Paralympics, and the 2018 Winter Paralympics.
Written by Ed Hula andAaron Bauer
Homepage photo: IPC
20 Years at #1: Your best source of news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com, for subscribers only.
Recent Articles
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
