Olympic sponsorship - Assignment Example

Olympic sponsorship Olympic sponsorship Executive Summary Olympics Games are held after every four years in major cities across the world such as Madrid, Athens, Tokyo and Rio. The games involve various sporting activities such as Football, Athletics, Boxing, Martial Arts, indoor games, swimming and many more. Nations come together under the umbrella of Olympic Games to compete against each other while time enhancing cultural corporation and peace. Over the past years, all organization that manages Olympic Games has been depending on corporate sponsors to meet their budget.

Apart from providing financial support, the corporate sponsors also provide technologies, personnel, expertise, products and services to help organize the games. For example, corporate sponsors provided more than 40% of funds used to host 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. Marketing methods used by the organizers of Olympic Games have faced numerous challenges. One of the witnessed challenges is withdrawal of various corporate sponsors. Companies such as Kodak and Xerox that have been major sponsors of the games for a long period have decided to channel their resources in methods that increase their number of customers rather than using Olympic Games for advertisement.

Apart from these, other corporate sponsors are reluctant to sign new deals with the IOC. In the event that the remaining sponsors refuse to sign new deals, then the games will suffer a major blow. Critique Olympic Games and the financing process assume a distinct relationship since their inauguration in 776 BC. Cities would sponsor their athletes by providing them with equipments needed for the games. Modern Olympic Games were revived in 1896 at Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens. Two thirds of the funds came from private donations while the remaining a third came from corporate companies such as Kodak.

Under the sponsorship deals, corporate companies finances the games by buying rights to advertise their products, air the games live and run restaurants during the events. It is important to understand that sponsorship can come in various forms such as providing flowers and medals for the winners. Additionally, it may involve giving free food and drinks to the participants. The number of sponsors has been increasing in each event though the Games have been challenging to the International Olympic Committee.

The IOC has a tendency of increasing the fee for buying rights in order to limit the number of sponsors. Though this strategy has worked, it has limited the amount of finances available for IOC. It is important for the IOC to lower its rate in order to increase the number of sponsors. This is likely to increase the number of available funds. In addition to this, IOC should not allow only one company to have the television rights to air the games. This is unethical because it limits the coverage of the events to the entire world and allows one company to create monopoly (Chatziefstathiou, Stotlar & Giannoulakis, 2008).

One of the major challenge facing sponsors is identifying the criteria for evaluating methods that maximize returns on their investments. The sponsors need to consider that the Olympic Games can change into a socio-cultural phenomenon and a mega sporting event. Another challenge the sponsors face is whether to form alliances with top athletes or stick to their traditional methods of advertising products. Successful and effective sponsorship involves clear goals and activation strategies for a particular audience.

In order for sponsors to be effective, they need to understand consumers’ perception of Olympic Games. It is also necessary to target the youth through mobile communication and the internet. Lastly, they should form alliances with major athletes in order to boost their products by providing kits that contain the name of their company. Consequently, they would reach a wide audience and market. The athletes are normally televised to the whole world (Chatziefstathiou, Stotlar & Giannoulakis, 2008).

According to research done on the Olympic Games held in Sydney Australia, several respondents were happy with the contributions done by sponsoring organizations. One of the importances of sponsoring is that a corporate can advertise its products to the international market. As a result, a company can improve its image and increase the volume of its sales. IOC is able to get enough funds to pay workers who work during the events, buy medals for the athletes and give rewards to winners who win in various categories.

The above information demonstrates the importance of corporate organizations in sponsoring Olympic Games to ensure their viability and continuation. The Olympic Movement should take a center role when negotiating new sponsorship deals, meeting sponsors demands and ensuring that Olympic Games have enough funds to sustain operations (Chatziefstathiou, Stotlar & Giannoulakis, 2008). References Chatziefstathiou, D. Stotlar, D. & Giannoulakis, C. (2008). Olympic sponsorship: evolution, challenges and impact on the Olympic Movement International.

Journal of Sports Marketing & Sponsorship