Marketing Tokyo 2020 Olympics

Industry Topic Paper CM406 Being a Worldwide Olympics Partner – Worth Doing or Not?

1. Research and fully outline the scope of what a Tokyo 2020 Olympics’ global sponsor will receive for their marketing investment

2. Company X research on how they used their sponsorship pre and during the 2016 Summer Games. How do you believe that this company might most effectively promote its global sponsorship of the 2020 Olympics.

3. Consider and then support how you believe this major sponsorship would potentially contribute to the ‘equity’ components of the company (internally as well as externally), its featured brands, and potentially its HQ country.

4. Finally, take and support a position (for/against) as to whether you believe the IOC’s changes to Rule 40 has had any detrimental impact, or not, on the commercial interests of you selected global Olympic sponsor.

1,700-2,000 (intro sobre Olympics ) The Olympic Games uphold their status as one of the most effective international marketing platforms in the world. By reaching billions of people in over 200 countries and territories throughout the world, brands are able to showcase their value in a global stage.1 This is the main reason why brands are keen on becoming official Olympics sponsors. The sponsor market has become challenging to enter, with only the biggest names affording to become official sponsors. This paper will analyze the way in which Olympic sponsors are benefited from their partnerships with the Games, especially those already formed for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Insight will be brought in particular to one of the main official sponsors and exclusive payment technology of the Games: Visa; and the way in which partnering with the Olympics has boosted the corporation’s business. Finally, an analysis will show the way in which the International Olympic Committee’s changes to Rule 40 has (positively/negatively) influenced the benefits Visa has continually received from its Olympic partnership for more than 30 years. Ever since Evangelos Zappas, Greek philanthropist, revived the modern Olympics in Athens in 1859, he became the first ever sponsor of the Games.2 Over the years, sponsorship for the Olympics has evolved notably, and its magnitude has exponentially grown. By 1884, the Olympic Games counted with over 30 official sponsors including Coca Cola, McDonald’s, American Express and Motorola.3 Nowadays, the upcoming Tokyo Summer Games have already established partnerships with over 60 firms and organizations, including Alibaba, Toyota and Samsung.4 Not only that, but as said by the International Olympic Committee, the Olympics sponsorship program for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics has already raised revenues close to $3 billion, which is almost three times as much domestic sponsorship received for the London 2012 1 “The Olympic Partner Programme” Sponsors. The International Olympic Committee. Olympic.org. March 2018. Web.https://www.olympic.org/sponsors 2 https://www.zappas.org/zappas.shtml 3 http://library.la84.org/6oic/OfficialReports/1984/1984v1pt2.pdf. Official Report Los Angeles, 1984 Volume One 4 https://tokyo2020.org/en/organising-committee/marketing/sponsors/

or the Rio 2016 Olympics.5 6 It is no surprise that the battle for becoming an Olympic sponsor is continually on the rise. (introduce benefits of being a sponsor in general:) By becoming (talk about Tokyo 2020 benefits specifically:) Visa has been committed to the Olympic Movement since 1986 and has without fail seen positive benefits from the relationship. By being the exclusive payment technology and the only card accepted at the Olympic Games, Visa takes advantage of its sponsorship to the fullest during the Olympic period.7 During the Rio 2016 Summer Games, .... https://www.marketwatch.com/story/making-the-most-of-olympic-sponsorships-2012-06-12 Being exposed to this vast audience and encouraging them to acquire a Visa card in order to facilitate purchases within Olympic venues, the brand not only … but it’s equity components …. Rule 40 was established by the International Olympics Committee as a way to "preserve the unique nature of the Olympic games by preventing over-commercialization." The rule aimed to protect official Olympic sponsors -- who spend millions of dollars for exclusive marketing rights during the Olympic period --- from other brands that try to take advantage of the Olympic mark to commercialize their products. The main purpose of the rule was to ensure the exclusivity of official sponsors and prohibit unofficial sponsors from associating with the Olympics on any social media platform including Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Furthermore, the rule prohibits unofficial sponsors from using Olympic athletes' image with the purpose of promoting their brand or products and are banned from trying to borderline associate themselves with the Olympic Games.8 In February 2015, an important change was made to Rule 40 that impacts official sponsor's unique Olympic advertising rights. The changes made by the International Olympics Committee have relaxed the regulations of Rule 40, and now allow unofficial sponsors to refer to the Olympics with a limited scope. Under the rule, unofficial sponsors are not allowed to use the following phrases in any sort of advertising: 2016 Rio; Rio de Janeiro; Gold; Silver; Bronze; Medal; Effort; Performance; Challenge; Summer; Games; Sponsors; Victory; Olympia; Olympic; Olympics; Olympic Games; Olympiad; Olympiads and the Olympic motto “Citius – Altius – Fortius.” (1) Yet, it allows them to now vaguely relate themselves to the Olympics, which was not possible in previous years, without intruding official sponsors' spotlight. Additionally, the changes to Rule 40 now permit athletes to post on social media about their unofficial sponsors, as long as they do

5 https://financialtribune.com/articles/sports/81657/tokyo-2020-olympic-revenues-near-3-billion 6 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-ioc-asia-analysis/tarnished-olympic-brand-mints-money-like- never-before-idUSKCN1G20DH 7 “Visa Olympic Games Partnership” Olympics Partnership. Visa.com. March 2018. Web https://usa.visa.com/about-visa/sponsorships-promotions/olympics-partnership.html 8 https://www.si.com/olympics/2016/07/27/rule-40- explained-2016-olympic-sponsorship- blackout-controversy

not utilize any Olympic properties or references. (1) By failing to adhere to the regulations of Rule 40, an athlete can be disqualified and even have medals removed. (1) (1) puedo incluir como brands como under armour estan going around it y hablar del ad the michael phelps. usan popular figures que on their own signify Olympics sin decir nada mas Even though official Olympic partners are threatened by the inclusion of non-official sponsors into the advertising field of the Olympics, the threat is minimal when compared to the vast benefit the official sponsors receive. As analyzed previously, official sponsors like Visa (hablar de los benefits) The changes made to Rule 40 have an even smaller impact on official sponsors in terms of the marketing share they attain during the Olympic period. By using the whole extent of Olympics trademarked language and imagery, Visa for example, take advantage of the coverage to the fullest and shows content that is ensured to convey the desired message. Meanwhile, unofficial sponsors struggle to find complex creative solutions that go around the Rule 40 regulations and develop marketing and advertising campaigns that may not be understood by the complete public they are targeting. By not having the clearance to use Olympic terms and images, the content displayed by unofficial sponsors will be less upfront and thus create lesser marketing results. Conclusion The marketing rights that companies receive during the Olympic period depends of their level of sponsorship. This determines brands’ scope in various regions, category exclusivity and the extent of the use of designates Olympic images and marks. (1) Since 1986, Visa has been committed to the Olympic Movement, National Olympic Committees, and individual athletes. For more than 30 years, the financial services corporation has offered its products, services and technology to help stage the Games. 3 The benefit with most magnitude for Visa during the Olympic period is the promise of being the exclusive payment technology and the only card accepted at the Olympic Games.3 https://www.ispo.com/en/markets/id_78544462/2-billion-what-the-sponsors-are-paying-at-the- olympics.html Visa -The world's leading payment brand has been a Worldwide Olympic Partner since 1986. -The company implements and manages the entire payment infrastructure during the Olympics, and Visa International is the only card accepted at the Games through 2020. https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/company-news/the-biggest-sponsors-of-the-olympic- games/ar-BBvmAQX#page=2

https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/when-comes-olympic-sponsorship-less/1446901 “The sponsor demand to partner with the Tokyo 2020 Games inparticular has been unprecedented and off the charts,” said Michael Lynch, global head of consulting at Nielsen Sports &Entertainment, which works with Olympic sponsors. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-olympics-2018-ioc-asia-analysis/tarnished-olympic-brand- mints-money-like-never-before-idUSKCN1G20DH

• Hablar de como en verdad no afecta que otros non-sponsors puedan usar el nombre de los olimpiadas o lo que sea porque los sponsors estan claros de los muchos benefits que le trae ser sponsor.

• La rule esa https://digiday.com/marketing/what-is- rule-40/ http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/how-olympics-new-advertising-rules-will-impact-athletes-and-brands-rio- 172372/