UKSA Sponsorship Case File 1 : Rio 2016

Andy Fry kicks off the UKSA's new series - Sponsorship Case File - with Rio 2016, an analysis of the key sponsorship players, their activations, innovations and strategic developments.  

The Big Picture: Rio 2016 (August 5-12) is the first Summer Olympics to have been held in South America. Although it has faced a number of challenges, the fact that it is in a similar time zone to the US still makes it an attractive proposition to broadcasters and sponsors. All told, it is estimated that sponsors have invested around US$2 billion in securing rights to the event – though some of this has come as value in kind (mainly local sponsors). The lion’s share of that total has come from the International Olympic Committee’s eleven Worldwide Olympic Partners, which have paid up to US$100 million each for a four-year partnership running from 2013-2016 (note that this period included the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia). Bear in mind there will also be a huge programme activation budget attached to the Games which could double or treble the amount of money spent on sponsorship-related activities.

The Key Players: The Worldwide Olympic Partners are: Coca Cola, McDonalds, Visa, Bridgestone, Samsung, Panasonic, Omega, Procter & Gamble, General Electric, Dow and Atos. After these come Official Sponsors which include several Brazilian firms and Nissan. There are also 30 Official Suppliers including Nike, Microsoft, Airbnb, Eventim and C&A.

Strategic Developments: Fizzy drinks and sport have always been slightly uncomfortable bedfellows. So it’s interesting that Coca-Cola is using sponsorship to raise awareness of its non-fizzy drink brands in North America. For example, high profile Olympians have been brought in to endorse brands like Vitaminwater, Minute Maid, Zico, Powerade and Core Power. 

McDonald’s is also pursuing a ‘good citizen’ strategy by emphasising its approach to sustainable sourcing and deforestation – both of which make sense in Brazil. It will be serving Filet-O-Fish sandwiches made with Marine Stewardship Council certified fish, as well as Rainforest Alliance certified coffee in Forest Stewardship Council verified hot cups.

Creative Headlines: Coca-Cola’s Minute Maid will focus on the sacrifices parents make for their children. This sounds a bit similar to Procter & Gamble’s long-running campaign about the role mothers play in supporting tomorrow’s stars. P&G introduced this campaign at London 2012 and continues to use it at the heart of its brand communications work. A new ad was released about three months ago that links P&G and moms to Rio, with the final strapline: “P&G – Proud sponsor of Moms”.

Samsung did a great job of humanising its brand during the Rugby World Cup with its online ‘School of Rugby’ campaign – featuring Jack Whitehall. It has now created a funny follow up called ‘School of Rio’ that features Whitehall and a number of leading athletes such as Bradley Wiggins and Steve Redgrave.

Innovations/Integrated Activations: There will be some virtual reality coverage of Rio’s opening and closing ceremonies and selected events. In the run up to Rio, Samsung released a 360-degree virtual reality film, Vanuatu Dreams, about two beach volleyball players bidding to qualify for the Rio event.

Panasonic’s activities include a corporate pavilion, called Stadium of Wonders, that will screen visual content accumulated over Panasonic’s 25-plus-year support of the Olympics. Panasonic is also Technical Partner of the Torch Relay and has a number of television and web activities featuring soccer player, Neymar. As a partner of the British Olympic Association (BOA), Panasonic also announced the launch of Superfans, a new integrated campaign that will celebrate fan support of the Olympic Games and Team GB. Panasonic has one eye on Tokyo 2020 where it hopes to introduce innovations such as robot waiters and wearable translators.

Coke, meanwhile, is running a TV and print ad campaign across 50 markets called #ThatsGold, which uses footage of 79 athletes from 23 countries winning Gold Medals. This is interspersed with footage of people experiencing everyday moments of excitement. In addition to this, Coke has also sponsored the 2016 Olympic Torch Relay – which made 320 stops worldwide on its way to Rio. Rio will also see Coke’s most far-reaching social media campaign ever. At the centre of this will be The Coca-Cola Olympic Station, a brand activation centre in Rio that will target teens through athlete appearances, music and a multifaceted social conversation.

Visa is also taking social media seriously, running a series of daily live streams on Facebook that will encapsulate the main events of each day in a light-hearted and engaging manner. Appearing across four territories (UK, Italy, Poland and Spain), this will be the first time a brand has used Facebook’s new live video platform to release real-time daily content. 

CSR: Visa wants to use the Olympics to emphasis acceptance, partnership and innovation. To this end, it has created the Refugee Olympic Team. Under this programme, ten refugee athletes are being sponsored by Visa to showcase acceptance.

McDonald’s is bringing children from around the world to the Rio opening ceremony as part of its celebration of the spirit of friendship. 100 kids aged 8 to 12 years old will be participating from 18 markets including: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, South Korea, Thailand, UK, and US. Each country involved conducted their own local promotion to select children to represent their respective country.

Nissan, meanwhile, has launched a subsidy/mentorship programme that supports a total of 31 Brazilian athletes for the Olympics and Paralympic Games. Nissan hired Brazilian basketball star Hortência Marcari and Paralympic swimming medallist Clodoaldo Silva to mentor the 31 athletes.

New Sponsors:  An interesting addition to the Olympic family is Airbnb, the first ever “alternative accommodations" sponsor. Airbnb is offering about 20,000 rooms, apartments and houses in Rio, aimed primarily at Olympic visitors. The move makes sense for Airbnb given that Rio is one of the most popular cities on its platform. “We are extremely proud to be partnering with the Rio 2016 Olympic Committee to officially bring home sharing to the Games,” says Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia. “With visitors traveling from around the world, Rio residents get to serve as diplomats to their home country, hosting a global audience with real, authentic Brazilian hospitality.”

Ambush Marketing: This is a real headache for the IOC, which tries hard to protect the rights it has granted to official sponsors. The IOC made two interesting moves ahead of Rio. Firstly, it softened its rules in one area, allowing athletes to participate in non-Olympic advertising that is generic and does not explicitly tie the product or ad they are associated with to the games. This is a concession to superstars that have long-standing relationships that go well beyond the Olympics. Under Armour’s relationship with swimmer Michael Phelps would be an example (the subject of a beautiful award-winning ad campaign). Secondly, however, the IOC threatened legal action against any non-sponsor brands that tweet about the games or any of its associated trademarks. Use of words and phrases like Olympic, Olympian, Go for Gold, summer, gold, games, and Rio on Twitter could all potential attract the ire of the IOC.

Legacy: GE makes a point of leaving behind a legacy gift after each Olympiad. This time, GE Healthcare will donate around $2 million in new medical devices to a Rio hospital called Souza Aguiar. These include four robotic surgical arms that will help doctors perform 30% more surgeries, and cut waiting times.

Key Challenges:  Rio hasn’t had an easy time preparing for its first-ever Olympics. Construction delays, a political crisis and an economic downturn have all hampered preparations, and this has been exacerbated by the Zika outbreak. For sponsors, the only positive to all of this is the sense that they are helping a developing nation build for the future, rather than just attaching themselves to events that offers easy exposure. For this reason, combined with the generosity of spirit that is usually shown around the Games, they should emerge well.

IOC Image: The IOC’s image hasn’t exactly flourished in the run up to Rio. In particular, it has received a lot of criticism for the way it has handled reports of state-sponsored athlete doping by Russia. This article in The Daily Mail captures some of the anger surrounding its decision not to impose a blanket ban on Russia. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-3705971/The-Internat.... The IOC’s decision to pass the buck on to individual sports federations looks like a sign of weakness that may impact adversely on the movement.

Tokyo 2020:  Having said that, Tokyo 2020 is shaping up to be a commercially-successful event. Already signed up is Toyota, which is planning to unveil several new products. Toyota’s hydrogen-powered Mirai sedan is expected to feature as an Olympic vehicle, alongside connected cars and autonomous driving technologies. Japan sees hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuels and is building the infrastructure to support this.