Gold Miners

Posted on December 1, 2001 by Chief Marketer Staff

It is, after all, supposed to be about the athletes.

With the organizing-committee bribery scandal (March 1999 PROMO) a thing of the past, but the unpleasant specter of terrorism hanging over the future, marketing for the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City kicks into high gear this month with an emphasis on the athletes themselves.

Despite the outside controversies, more than 2,500 athletes from 80 countries are expected to compete over 17 days at the Games, which begin Feb. 8. And a medal-winning lineup of 64 sponsors, partners, and suppliers will join the effort to provide added buzz for the event and a remarkably untarnished halo to their marketing efforts.

“We have a phenomenal group of companies,” says Mark Lewis, president and ceo, Olympic Properties of the United States (OPUS). “It’s the industry leaders in practically every industry.”

“There’s nothing like having a Winter Olympics in the United States,” says John Zamoiski, ceo of Vertical Mix Marketing, New York City, which handles marketing for Olympics broadcaster NBC. “In February, in a [relatively] non-competitive environment, brands will have an open field in which to tell their stories.”

This year, perhaps more than ever, those marketing stories will seek to bring the athletic experience to those watching at home.

“The public expects sponsors to do something that identifies with the athlete,” says Scott Betty, director of non-traditional marketing at Monster.com, Maynard, MA, a first-time Olympic sponsor. “We wanted a program that genuinely benefits the athletes [and doesn’t] just throw the rings up at the end of advertising.”

“More people connect with the Winter Olympics than with the Summer Olympics — more people skate, more people ski,” says Mark Hotz, vp-marketing and e-business for NBC Cable Networks, New York City. “It’s on American soil [for the first time since 1980]. It’s live, and I think we will be very successful because of the tremendous increase in patriotism.”

A Torching Story

Of course, the road to the Olympics is a long one — a 13,500-mile-long one in the case of the Olympic Torch, which Chevrolet and Coca-Cola are escorting to Salt Lake. Starting Dec. 4 in Atlanta, the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Torch Relay, accompanied by a convoy of Chevy vehicles, will traverse 46 states over 65 days.

Warren, MI-based Chevrolet, a division of General Motors, initiated the program last spring with its largest activation offensive ever, a torch-bearer nomination campaign that selected 3,000 of the 11,500 participants based on their inspirational stories, community service endeavors, and embodiment of Olympic values.

The relay will make party stops twice each day, with Chevy unfolding a 53-foot trailer offering games, vehicle displays, and a VIP hospitality tent, according to Kim Ransford, Chevrolet Olympic manager. At dealerships, torches and other signage are on display until the end of December; national TV spots don’t kick off until the Games begin. Campbell-Ewald, Detroit, handles advertising and New York City-based Manning, Selvage & Lee p.r. (A roadside assist goes to Chevron Texaco, San Francisco, which is fueling the relay’s caravan — in addition to providing gas, oil, propane, and lubricants in Salt Lake.)

Elsewhere, Chevy is supporting athletes with The Team Behind the Team, a vehicle donation program that this year gave new cars to 40 athletes. General Motors’ in-house R*Works unit handles.

Meanwhile, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola (an Olympic sponsor since 1928) selected 3,500 torchbearers (and 2,100 support runners) through a separate nomination program looking to reward courage, passion, dedication, and spirit (and featuring honorary relay captain Lance Armstrong). Publicized through TV, radio, in-theater, online, and magazine ads along with P-O-P displays in 117 markets, the campaign drew more than 125,000 nominations. Momentum, St. Louis, handled. Coke will present nightly vignettes on the relay on NBC.

In Salt Lake, the soda giant will host two public areas for spectators to enjoy live entertainment, telecasts, and sports simulations. It’s also bringing back Olympic Pin trading centers and will broadcast Coca-Cola Radio (featuring DJs from top stations) from one of the sports venues. Coke’s agencies include CMI, East Rutherford, NJ; Ignition, Manchester, VT, Momentum, and WeberShandwick Worldwide, St. Louis.

Bar Raisers

San Francisco-based Visa, a 14-year sponsor, made Olympic history this year by submitting a record-breaking 1,000 marketing proposals to the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“This is going to be the last Olympics in the U.S. for a long time, and we have unprecedented levels of support” that includes participation from all 10 of Visa’s largest member banks, says Bob Pifke, Visa’s senior vp-marketing services. “It’s the biggest Olympic promotion we’ve ever done.”

The centerpiece of Visa’s effort is a Bring Home the Gold sweepstakes run in conjunction with NBC Cable that will randomly award one $10,000 check card every time a U.S. athlete wins a gold medal. “In the past, most of our programs featured trips as key components, and that prevented us from doing something right before and during the Games,” Pifke explains.

All cardholders who make a purchase from Feb. 1-25 are eligible. Statement inserts were sent out highlighting the sweeps, and TV spots support next month. Frankel, Chicago, handles for Visa, with advertising from BBDO, Chicago; Vertical Mix handles for NBC, which will run a sweeps teaser next month and is creating localized spots to run during the Games.

Not that Visa scrapped the trips, though: A November 2000 through October 2001 sweeps dangled 12 Olympic packages to cardholders, and featured overlays with retail partners including Nordstrom, Gap.com, CompUSA, and Federated Department Stores that gave away an additional 40 trips this fall. Elsewhere, John Hancock and Qwest offered employee incentive programs, and Marriott International checked Visa-toting guests into a trip sweeps. (Bethesda, MD-based Marriott has also been offering rate discounts for athletes and their families nationwide. McCann-Erickson Worldwide, New York City, and sister agency Momentum handle.)

Let the Games Be Big

Visa isn’t the only sponsor promising its most comprehensive activation ever. Oak Brook, IL-based McDonald’s Corp., a 26-year partner, is sending 400 employees from 50 countries to work at a full-service restaurant in the Olympic Village and McTreat and McSnack venues in the media center. Some 300,000 employees competed in skills competitions from April through September to earn a spot on the crew.

The chain’s national print and TV advertising breaks Dec. 21, and Olympic packaging, premiums, and P-O-P roll into restaurants in 30 countries next month. In February, McD’s New Tastes menu will boast several new items, and the 100 restaurants in and around Salt Lake will host special events. Frankel and The Marketing Store Worldwide, Chicago, handle promotions, merchandising, and packaging, with DDB Needham, Chicago, taking care of advertising.

“It’s a lot more than we have ever done. We’ll be in stores 60 days — as opposed to a three-week promotion — and we’re extending the program to our internal and external audience,” says John Lewicki, McD’s senior director of sports marketing.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, a 20-year sponsor, will bring its BudWorld road show back to the Games, setting up camp in a one-square block of down-town Salt Lake to host parties and concerts every night. Prominence, Minneapolis, handles.

“We’re thrilled about our program this year,” says Bruce Hudson, A-B’s director of international sports marketing. “TV ratings are much higher when the Games are held in the U.S., and this gives us an excellent opportunity to show-case our talent.” TV advertising from DDB Needham will break about six weeks before the Games; special labels on 12-ounce bottles of Bud and Bud Light and supporting P-O-P from the LaSalle Group, St. Louis (with an assist from Momentum) hit the Salt Lake market last April and went national in September.

Although it has no previous experience with which to compare, rookie sponsor Monster.com is going big as well. The first dot-com sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Games, the online job board is hosting career management sites for both Salt Lake Organizing Committee workers and athletes. Before the Games end, Monster will host a virtual career fair to help the 1,200 paid SLOC staffers find post-Olympic jobs. And its TeamUSAnet is the first Web site devoted exclusively to Olympic athletes and hopefuls, and offers a resume builder, job search tools, and a mentoring network.

“Most Olympic athletes don’t have the opportunity to end up on a Wheaties box,” says Betty. “It’s only a handful that come away and make a significant living from their sport.”

Monster purchased an NBC ad package and also plans a print campaign before the Games. On site, its primary presence will be a leased storefront where visitors can register for accounts and play a spin-and-win game for prizes. Cone, Inc. and Arnold Brand Promotions, both Boston, handle.

The Rest of the Field

Here’s a quick rundown of other Olympian efforts.

NBC Cable hosts a Visions of Glory program in January and February that offers teachers a lesson plan exploring the value of the Games; a creativity contest in March awards a $10,000 grant to one student and his school for best displaying a “vision of glory” through a poster, video, essay, poem, or music video. Vertical Mix handles.

The broadcaster is also offering NBC Olympics Vflash, an e-messaging service run by Vflash, New York City, that will deliver customized information; a mobile marketing component called Pound Now will include a sweepstakes for cell phone users.
Xerox Corp., Rochester, NY, which set up its on-site “DigiCentre” for the SLOC (complete with loaned employees) three years ago, continues its 11-year-old Team Olympian program, which underwrites athlete participation at USOC fundraisers. A Xerox Breakfast with Olympians on Feb. 17 will play host to 400 to 500 attendees, according to Terry Dillman, manager of Olympic marketing. Wunderman, New York City, handles.
First-timer Office Depot, Delray Beach, FL, has been hyping the Games via flag-raising ceremonies with Olympic athletes at store grand openings, and displays the famous rings in stores and on delivery trucks.
Home Depot, Atlanta, continues to tout its status as the world’s largest employer of Olympic athletes and hopefuls, since it has put more than 285 Olympic and Paralympic competitors on the payroll since 1992 (through the USOC’s Olympic Job Opportunities Program). The company offers athlete employees full-time pay and benefits for a training-friendly 20-hour work week.

From August through February, Home Depot put an Olympic twist on its standard Kid Workshops with monthly how-to clinics on pin collecting and bobsled building.
Another newcomer, Kansas City, MO-based Hallmark, is supplying 70,000 cards to be distributed with Olympic Games tickets and handing out commemorative cards to all attendees of medal ceremonies (in addition to providing bouquets for the winners).

Hallmark will also run a card station from which fans can send free cards to friends and family back home. Kicking Cow, St. Louis, handles.
Delta Airlines, Atlanta, is hosting Skyathalon.com, where visitors can accumulate “medals” by learning about and using the airline’s products and services. The medals double as entries into a sweeps giving away plane tickets daily, frequent-flier status upgrades weekly, and five trips to the Games. Modem Media, Norwalk, CT, handles.
Bombardier Recreation Products’ Ski-Doo, Quebec, Canada, is supplying snowmobiles, ATVs, and snow-grooming equipment for event personnel to get around snowy venues. From September through November, Ski-Doo hosted an instant-win game offering seven trips that had consumers taking gamepieces from print ads into retail locations.
OPUS supplier Sears, Roebuck and Co., Hoffman Estates, IL, keeps things cool on site with donated appliances (including freezers to store hockey pucks). A product-specific promotion kicks off after Christmas, entering consumers in a drawing for a trip that includes seats next to Dorothy Hamill at the Women’s Figure Skating Championships. National TV and print (including FSIs) support. Sears’ team of agencies includes GEM Group, Atlanta, Ogilvy & Mather’s Chicago office, and ABD, also Chicago.
Louisville, KY-based Brown-Forman Beverages Worldwide uncorked a trip sweeps on Korbel champagne packaging in September and October. In February, consumers can visit korbel.com for a chance to win tickets to Korbel’s Night of Olympic Champions, an event honoring 2002 Olympians the day before their traditional White House visit in April. An Olympic supplier since 1996, Korbel works with Edelman Worldwide and Disson and Associates in Chicago, and PriceWeber, Louisville, KY.
Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, MI, this month bombards store shelves with 75 million packages whose fronts sport U.S. Team members. Proofs-of-purchase can be redeemed for sports gear and games; an account-specific overlay offers a 25-cent donation to the U.S. Team for every Kellogg purchase made at Albertson’s, Boise, ID. Brigandi & Associates, Chicago, and GEM Group handle.

“We feel that the appeal is not in the Games, but in the athletes — who consumers can really identify with,” says Sandy Uridge, Kellogg’s associate marketing director.
Supplier PowerBar, Berkeley, CA, this month wraps a five-month on-pack instant-win effort giving away 10 trips and concludes a national print campaign featuring skier Johnny Moseley. B.A.R.C. Communications, San Francisco, handles.
Last but not least — since, at 106 years, it holds the oldest Olympic sponsorship — Eastman Kodak Co. is constructing a 25,000-square-foot imaging center to support the expected 700 accredited photojournalists on site, and is producing photo identification badges for 200,000 officials, athletes, volunteers, workers, and sponsors. In addition, Rochester, NY-based Kodak supplies X-ray equipment and services to help Olympic medical staff diagnose injuries and transmit images to the athletes’ home doctors or experts.

See? It is all about the athletes.

The Roster

Olympic marketers, by status:

Worldwide Top Olympic Partners (TOP): Global marketing rights negotiated every four years.

Coca-Cola
Eastman Kodak
John Hancock Financial Services
McDonald’s
Panasonic
Samsung Electronics Co.
SchlumbergerSema
Sports Illustrated
Visa
Xerox

Olympic Properties of the United States (OPUS): National rights to the U.S. Olympic Team and/or Salt Lake City games at various levels.

OPUS Partners

AT&T
Bank of America
Budweiser
General Motors
Qwest
Chevron Texaco

OPUS Suppliers

AchieveGlobal
Aggreko
Bombardier
Brown-Forman
Campbell Soup Company
Cardinal Health, Inc.
Certified Angus Beef
Compass Group
Diamond of California
Drake Beam Morin
Garrett Metal Detectors
General Mills
Harris Interactive
Herman Miller, Inc. and Henriksen Butler
IKANO
Kimberly-Clark
Kellogg Company
KSL Radio & Television
Marriott International, Inc.
Modern Display
O.C. Tanner
Questar
Pfizer, Inc.
PowerBar, Inc.
Schenker International
Sealy, Inc.
Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Smith’s
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Tickets.com
United Pacific Railroad
Source: SLOC