Coke, Visa and McDonald’s Sponsorship Programs Also Lost Out In IOC Decision
Posted: 10/7/2009 9:11:19 AM by
Jim Andrews | with 0 comments
The IOC’s vote to award the 2016 Games to Rio was a blow to Chicago’s civic pride, as well as to the plans of many sports marketers, broadcasters and U.S. sponsors who looked forward to a stateside summer Games for the first time in 20 years.
However, the pangs of disappointment were probably most acute at three particular sponsors: Coca-Cola, Visa and McDonald’s—not that our friends at those outstanding marketing organizations will admit that. Those three companies are the only sponsors that are both global Olympic partners as well as high level FIFA World Cup sponsors. (Coke and Visa are two of the six FIFA Partners, the top-tier sponsorship, while McDonald’s is one rung down as a World Cup Sponsor.)
The 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games being held in the same city creates a redundancy that does not by any means deal a fatal blow to the sponsorship plans of the three companies—both properties are global platforms that can be marketed successfully in hundreds of countries—but certainly the overlap cannot be as welcome as having them take place in different markets.
From the slight marketing hangover that is sure to hit Brazil in 2015—making it necessary for all the Olympic sponsors to raise the bar on their B2C and B2B efforts even higher than they would have to in the normal course of events—to not being able to play the role of heroes bringing a mega event to a new market until 2018, the IOC has not made it easy on any of its global partners, nor for the Rio 2016 domestic sponsors.
Coke is locked into both deals past 2016, while Visa and McDonald’s are in for the Rio World Cup, but have not renewed their TOP sponsorships past 2012. I don’t think the fact that the Olympics are going to Rio would be a singular reason why either company would choose to opt out of the TOP program, but it could be a tipping point should be other issues arise that put the renewal in jeopardy.
If I were to bet, I would put my money on both sponsors renewing, regardless of where the Games are going. (Between the two, I could see McDonald’s dropping its IOC sponsorship before Visa—one of the original TOP sponsors—would.)
But of course, I also would have bet on Chicago getting the Games, so...
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Filed under: international, olympics, activation