Gold Standard? Beijing 2008

For brands sponsoring the event, The Olympics is primarily about positioning themselves as leading players in their fields. Check out this month’s issue of Brand Strategy for an in-depth look, with interviews with expert commentators, sponsors and the IOC, at the issues around Beijing 2008.

The Games represent a pretty unique platform to build awareness while increasing revenues at the same time. However, the forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing have, because of widespread protest by human rights groups, been the vehicle for creating awareness of another kind. What do brands feel are the key benefits of Beijing 2008?

What does the climate of this particular games mean for the brands who attach themselves to the event, hoping to showcase their own values? Brand Strategy has spoken to some of the key people involved and here we highlight some extra material, not available in the original article, about this issue:

Colin Grannell is head of sponsorship at Visa Europe. The financial services marque is one of the games’ top sponsors.

“We have been a sponsor of the Olympics since 1986 and it has helped us shape our business over that time. People like it and it is global. The words that come out of it are that it is ‘for everybody’, ‘friendly’, ‘respectful’ and ‘aspirational’. We certainly see parallels with our own brand in terms of being global and striving for success. It fits pretty well in most markets that we do business in.

We do a lot of work with athletes. We run the biggest mentoring programme globally with the Olympics, Team Visa. We also run we also run an Olympic art competition called Visa Olympics of the Imagination.

We were the first sponsors of 2012 before we knew where the event was taking place. The location is important but not what defines our sponsorship. We see the place that it is held and the Olympic event as very separate entities. What we do know is that we will have members there and services there.

The kind of issues drawn attention to in terms of Chinese politics is best resolved by United Nations and national governments. What we are there for in Beijing in August is to witness the athletes striving for perfection.”

Ulf Santjer, head of corporate communications at Puma, comments:

“PUMA is the proud sponsor of 15 athletic teams, such as Jamaica, Sweden or Morocco to maximize visibility. On an individual level we work with several medal favourites including Usain Bolt (JAM / 200m), Periklis Iakovakis (GRE/400m) or European champion Muriel Hurtis (FRA).

Being the official sponsor of such top teams and world class athletes inspires us as well to always push the boundaries both from a technical and from a style stand point.

The current situation in Tibet clearly casts a cloud over the Olympic Games in Beijing. In our opinion, however, it is wrong to link the violation of human rights with the Olympic Spirit and the Games themselves.

The Olympic Games are the symbol of a peaceful get-together of people of all origins and different religious and political views and therefore, we do not believe that calling for a boycott is constructive at this time. In the Olympic sense, but also on behalf of all participating athletes, we wish that the Olympic Games will be a peaceful and smooth event.”