Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.bonus From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: bonus Tue, Jul 21 1992 Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 06:06:53 EDT Message-ID: 07-21 0000 BONUS: Olympics have loads of sponsors USA TODAY Update July 21, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network This may be the Dream Team Olympics, but the Barcelona Games could give marketers nightmares. There are so many official sponsors (43), licensees (28) and Olympic-related products (160) that some firms fear their message will be lost in the clutter when the Games begin Saturday. HOW CRAZY IS IT? There's an official Olympic pain reliever (Nuprin), water (Evian) and timer (Seiko). There's an official hair-care sponsor (Clairol), cosmetics (Max Factor), medal-award suit (Reebok), snack food (Snickers), coffee (Maxwell House), sun glasses (Ray Ban), hotel (Hilton), bike helmet (Bell), clothier (J.C. Penney), and swimming ear plug (Santa Barbara Medco's Ear Putty). There's even an official U.S. team mascot - Hasbro's Cabbage Patch Kid - which athletes will give away to kids at Barcelona-area hospitals. IS SPONSORSHIP ANYTHING NEW? The world's premier sporting event has long been the biggest bastion of corporate sponsorship. Says Brian Murphy of Sports Marketing Letter: "Nothing confers as much dignity or prestige - the glamour of sport, the luster of national pride and international competition - as the Olympics." But the cachet of an Olympic sponsorship has been tarnished by too many marketers climbing aboard the Olympic bandwagon. Sponsorships alone - which average about $5.7 million but can hit $35 million - are no longer effective as a sole marketing tool. WHAT DO MARKETING CONSULTANTS SAY? Says sports marketing consultant Joyce Julius: "The Olympics have become so sponsor-laden that marketers have to spend more and more on advertising if they hope to get something more for their dollar than goodwill." Some top sponsors, such as M&M Mars, will spend $200 million on Olympic marketing, says Audrey Federouch, a Duquesne University marketing professor. ARE NON-SPONSORS SHUT OUT? Complicating matters are increasingly feisty ambush marketers - firms shirking official sponsorships but running Olympic-style ads. Despite promises from the Games' overseers that sponsors get marketing exclusivity, there's little to thwart ambushers like Pepsi and American Express, other than threaten legal action. And most consumers won't distinguish them from official sponsors Coca-Cola and Visa. WHAT IS THE EFFECT OF AMBUSH ADVERTISERS? "Ambush marketers are creating confusion in the marketplace," concedes U.S. Postal Service Olympic program manager David Shinnebarger. The Postal Service spent $10 million for an Olympic sponsorship and $92 million for marketing and merchandising. But it can do little more than whine about rival Federal Express, which is tweaking the Postal Service with its "In this year of Olympics, we'll make records of our own" ads focusing on speedy delivery. ARE THERE OTHER CONCERNS? Marketing experts fret that TV viewers will be doing plenty of channel surfing - and not just during commercial breaks. Viewers may lose interest because several marquee-name athletes (decathlete Dan O'Brien, runner Mary Decker Slaney and diver Wendy Williams, among others) failed to make the U.S. team. WILL THE TRIPLECAST HURT RATINGS? Three pay-for-view Olympic cable channels arranged under a deal between broadcaster NBC and Cablevision cut NBC's own viewing audience. Hype over the Dream Team could also hurt. The basketball team - sponsored by 13 firms and 23 licensees - is so powerful that lack of serious competition could bore the most ardent fans. Says Scott Davis of marketing consultant Kuczmarski & Associates: "Five weeks from now, we're going to be sick of the Dream Team. ... The buildup has been so great, what's left to see?" HOW WELL ARE THE ADS SELLING? More than 60 advertisers - including mega-marketers McDonald's, Philip Morris and Anheuser-Busch - have snapped up spots. NBC won't say just how much time is being sold, but the network hopes to reap at least $500 million in ad revenue after shelling out $401 million for broadcast rights and another $100 million in production costs. HOW MANY ADS WILL AIR? A prime-time, 30-second Olympic spot costs about $350,000. So if NBC is to hit its revenue goal, it will have to air nearly 1,400 commercials over 161 hours of Olympics coverage. Expect more, though, since big advertisers have cut deals for better rates and non-prime-time spots will be cheaper. HOW WILL MARKETERS REACH THE MASSES THROUGH THE MADNESS? Sports-savvy Anheuser - which spends most of its $800 million annual marketing budget on athletic events - is running a blitz from Memorial Day through Labor Day. "It's become more difficult to stand out with more advertisers as sponsors, so you have to be more creative," says spokesman Tony Ponturo. Catchy, animated ads of cardboard athletes and a humorous cannonball diving competition are already in TV rotation. WHAT DOES EVIAN HAVE PLANNED? Most of Evian's 1992 marketing efforts are centered on the Games, including an eight-month ad campaign underscoring the firm's sponsorship. Evian will also supply 470,000 bottles of Evian to athletes. "There's a fear that since the arena is so cluttered, consumers will see some products as a forced fit," says marketing director Ed Slade. "But for us, there's synergy. Athletes treat their bodies as temples, and consumers will see athletes drinking our product." WILL SEIKO MAKE A BIG PUSH? Seiko will spend about $25 million for sponsorships, ads and sophisticated timing equipment to monitor Olympic events. Says Seiko Corp. of America advertising chief Jonathan Nettelfield: "We've tailored our entire marketing and advertising around the Olympics for the past year. We're not looking for any return on investment this year, we're doing this to enhance our image over the long haul." DO OLYMPIC ORGANIZERS PLAN TO CUT SPONSORSHIP IN THE FUTURE? Olympic organizers, pressured by over-sponsorship and commercialization, will try to limit the marketing clutter by cutting sponsorships to about 24. But the asking price for top sponsorships to the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta has zoomed to $40 million. So far, only Coca-Cola, Sara Lee and NationsBank have signed up. Other firms are balking. WHAT WILL THINGS BE LIKE IN ATLANTA? Even though sponsorships will be trimmed, the marketing mayhem surrounding the 1996 Games may make the commercialization of this year's Games seem tame, because the Games will be in the USA for the first time since 1984, when sponsorships and licensees peaked at more than 200. "Atlanta will be a million times worse than Barcelona," says Lesa Ukman, president of sports marketing consultant International EventsGroup. "It'll be like Christmas for six months. Everyone's going to want to be tied to Atlanta." Bonus Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM