- Date
- 20 Nov 2012
- Tags
- RIO 2016 , London 2012 , IOC News
Olympic marketing partners: Opportunity knocks for future Games organisers
As with any good relationship, the more you put into those with Olympic marketing partners, the more you’ll get out.
That’s a key message the IOC’s Managing Director of Television and Marketing Services, Timo Lumme, would like future organisers of the Olympic Games to take away from the IOC Debriefing of the London 2012 Games in Rio.
“You have to recognise that the partner group offers an unequalled and unique opportunity to do a multitude of things. They provide far more than just financing for the Games: they provide a fantastic amount of experience and know-how, including platforms to leverage and promote the Games,” Lumme said.
A comprehensive debriefing specifically for Olympic marketing partners was held in Rio just prior to the official debrief from 17-21 November to give those in attendance the time to look at all aspects of the partner relationship with organising committees, including services, hospitality, partner and venue operations, and others.
“The word partnership is important,” Lumme added. “The partners are clients but they are also facilitators and activators of the Games vision. So the notion of debriefing and educating, if you like, is to make future organisers understand the strategic importance of having both a revenue programme and leveraging marketing partners to fulfil their overall Games vision in many, many different ways.”
The IOC marketing team began transferring the knowledge they and their stakeholders gleaned from London 2012 shortly after the Olympic cauldron was extinguished on 12 August. The official debriefing this week, Lumme said, allows his team to pass along these messages in a broader way to more people.
“And one of those messages is: The more you integrate them, the more you can benefit from the various things that they can bring. They have a wealth of experience and they are willing to put resources behind that. Paramount to staging a successful Games is figuring out how to maximise the partner relationship.”