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Morgan:News:2010 |Business|
MARKETING CONFERENCE TOLD 2010 MARKETING SHOULD TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ADVANCE TIME
Susan Goldsmith, the Director of Partnership Marketing for the U.S. Olympic Committee, told a marketing conference in Vancouver today that Olympic culture and values extend throughout the entire period leading up to the Games and that companies who become involved in sponsorships or related marketing should take advantage of the entire time.
Goldsmith was Account Manager for the Olympic Properties of the United States during the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City and managed corporate sponsorships for the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. Based in Denver, she was in Vancouver as part of a wide-ranging panel discussion on Olympic sponsorship marketing.
She told the standing-room-only crowd of 250 marketing executives - members of the BC chapter of the American Marketing Association - that the 2010 Games, "is more than an advertising opportunity."
She said that companies, for instance, might sponsor specific athletes well before the Games begin. "Bring the Olympic athlete to [your client's] board or sales meetings, place the [sponsorship] logos on all corporate materials, tell your story and talk about it. You've only got 17 days [for the Games themselves], so talk about it before and after the Games. Scale your plans according to your budget."
Brad Gamble, the senior director of marketing for McDonald's Restaurants in Western Canada was also a panelist, and he agreed. "The games only happen every two years and it may not come back to Canada for years," he said, noting that McDonald's recently renewed its top-level sponsorship with the International Olympic Committee for the 2010 Games. "Duration perspective is important," he said. "McDonald's doesn't need brand awareness [at the Games]. It's a short time frame. What you do before and after will leverage and expand this opportunity."
This year's summer games are in Athens, the 2006 Winter Games are in Torino, Italy, the 2008 summer Olympics are Beijing, China and though the bidding for the 2012 summer games is not yet completed, there's speculation those games will end up in Europe.
Steve Podborski, a former Olympic athlete but now part of Telus's Olympic desk, was another member of the panel. He spoke about the International Olympic Committee's rules that prevent marketing messages from appearing at venues while the Games are underway -- making them what the Olympics calls "clean venues". He said that the sponsorship of athletes is a gray area where the rules aren't clear, and aren't always resolved well. But, he added, "The clean-venues approach also applies to clean athletes during the run-up to the games."
Podborski is a World Cup downhill champion and an Olympic medallist who has turned himself into a brand name though sponsorships since becoming the first North American man to win an Olympic medal in downhill skiing some years ago. He was also part of the team that put together Vancouver's successful bid for the 2010 Games.
He told the group that what they do to let the athlete help with a company's sponsorship marketing is important. And he had these tips for the marketers who are thinking about sponsoring an athlete: "Assign a person to decide on what to do with the athlete. Activation is key. Watch regional and national events to pick a young athlete" and follow the person through to the Games.
Gamble said McDonald's has done that, adding, "Align yourself with an athlete who has promise and follow that athlete through the good and bad times. Show your customer base that you're supporting a Canadian athlete. Supporting a Canadian ideal creates stronger linkage with your customer base."
Gamble said that McDonald's will "go top dollar on TV campaigns to dominate the market. But how do you bring it to life in a restaurant? We're all guilty of sponsoring an event where the customer goes to the contact point [for a company] and they don't know what's going on. They must see and feel what you're doing," he advised.
Podborski added that sponsored athletes — and both Gamble and Goldsmith concurred - have the same aggressive, we-want-to-be-first attitude that mark many companies in their markets, and so athletic sponsorships are often a good fit for companies. Gamble added,"Athletes will go to 300% and beyond for their sponsor. Involve them with your local staff. Those staff are key because they'll talk to their family and friends. Activate your customer base through marketing activities like direct mail, donations to the Canadian Olympic foundations and integrate [the message] vertically" within the sponsoring company.
Added Goldsmith, "Don't put an athlete on a pedestal who only sees the executive. Involve them with staff and have them send e-mails to staff" about the athlete's activities.
Goldsmith said that companies thinking about approaching the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee about sponsorship plans need to take what Podborski called "the Olympic ideals" of VANOC into consideration if they are to have any hope of success. "If you activate and make a connection with an Olympic story you'll have a home run. Tell [VANOC] why you're different and incorporate this into your [sponsorship] plan."
Goldsmith added that trying to forecast how a company's sales picture will respond through Olympic sponsorships is tough. "You're going to get spikes in sales that may seem entirely unrelated to what you're doing at the time, and to ask for a forecast of sales is challenging. There are too many factors you can't plan for."
But, Podborski concluded, "If you can supply product to the Olympics you'll benefit from the 'Olympic halo' the Olympics attracts."
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 28, 2004
Morgan:News:2010 |IOC|
CANADIAN OLYMPIC COMMITTEE PUZZLED BY IOC'S NEW INSURANCE SCHEME
A spokesman for the Canadian Olympic Committee indicates that COC officials were somewhat surprised by the announcement of the International Olympic Committee that the IOC was acquiring a US$170 million risk-management policy to protect its cashflow in the event an Olympic games is cancelled.
COC communications director, Jackie DeSousa says, "We have contacted the IOC to find out more information about this insurance policy because we don't have a clear idea about what this means for us as an NOC [National Olympic Committee]."
The IOC has so far only said the policy,"protects the interests of the National Olympic Committees and the International Federations." IOC president Jacques Rogge said the new policy covers full and partial cancellation of the games for a "whole range of issues such as terrorism, earthquake, flooding, landslides, things like that."
DeSousa says the COC doesn't carry cancellation insurance, "However, we do have a risk-management policy for Games."
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 28, 2004
Morgan:News:2010 |IOC|
IOC TAKES OUT INSURANCE POLICY FOR OLYMPIC GAMES INCLUDING 2010
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) says it has taken out an insurance policy for US$170 million on several Olympic Games -- including the 2010 Games in Vancouver and the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee -- to protect itself, the National Olympic Committees and the International Sports Federations.
The summer Olympics in Athens this August will be the first to be covered by the new policy. Similar policies will apply to the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy, the summer Games in Beijing in 2008 and the Vancouver/Whistler Games in 2010, the IOC said.
It’s being billed as “the next step” in the IOC’s strategy to “manage the risks inherent to its core business - the Olympic Games.” The specific risks covered by the policy were not immediately listed, nor were the cost of the policy or the issuer.
The idea to put in place a risk-management policy was initiated by IOC President Jacques Rogge following his election in 2001, when he said there was a need for the IOC to protect the funding of the Olympic Movement by building financial reserves and, when necessary, taking out insurance. The first discussions on the matter were held during the IOC’s meeting in Mexico two years ago.
Rogge said: "Taking out a policy to manage the risk associated with one's core business is standard, prudent behaviour for any modern organization. We are happy with the terms agreed which will support not only the IOC but also the National Olympic Committees and the International Federations.”
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 27, 2004
Morgan:News:2010 |IOC|
UPDATE ON IOC'S INSURANCE POLICY DECISION AND COVERAGE ISSUED
2010NewsWatch
More information is now available about the International Olympic Committee's announcement this morning about a new insurance policy that covers itself, national Olympic committees such as the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee and sports federations.
The policy is cancellation insurance: a US$170 million policy to protect against the Games being forced to be cancelled because of war, terrorism or natural disasters.
The policy does not specifically protect the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, according to clarifications provided by the IOC, but the organization intends to negotiate such policies for each Olympic Games as they come into focus.
The policy would fund continued operations for the IOC and its affiliated bodies, since virtually all of its revenue is from sharing the income on a franchise basis from broadcasters, sponsors and suppliers to the Games.
IOC president Jacques Rogge told The Associated Press the move represents "standard prudent judgment." The policy covers full and partial cancellation of the games for a "whole range of issues such as terrorism, earthquake, flooding, landslides, things like that," Rogge said by phone from Lausanne, Switzerland.
The IOC policy does not cover corporate sponsors or television networks, which have billions of dollars riding on specific games, since they have their own insurance. Host city organizers also underwrite their own liability coverage, but it's not clear yet whether Vancouver's coverage would be replaced or added to the IOC's policy.
IOC finance chairman Richard Carrion, who led the negotiations, said the scenario of Olympic venues not being ready on time is not covered by the policy. "It is specifically excluded," he told the AP. The possibility of teams not showing up for the games is also not covered, Carrion said.
The IOC is paying about US$6.8 million for the policy, and the syndicate is led by New York-based insurance giant AIG, according to two Olympic sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. AIG had no immediate comment.
The policy also protects the bulk of the 28 international sports federations on the Olympic program and the 202 national Olympic committees sending teams to the games. Many of those organizations rely heavily on games-related revenue for their existence.
The policy is meant to ensure that the IOC and Olympic sports bodies can continue to operate for another four-year Olympic cycle if the games are called off. Rogge told AP the IOC needs just over US$200 million to keep running in the event of cancellation. The committee already has around US$160 million in financial reserves.
"We will certainly have the required amount after the successful completion of the Athens Games," Carrion said.
The Athens Olympics, the first summer games to be covered, will be the most heavily guarded in history. The security budget is nearing $1 billion. That's more than triple the amount spent on protecting the 2000 summer Games in Sydney, Australia.
Rogge said the IOC began exploring the possibility of taking out insurance in 2001 but the industry was reluctant to offer terrorism coverage after the Sept. 11 attacks. The IOC had no coverage for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Carrion said the IOC also considered two other options: taking out a credit line to absorb the bulk of the risk, and a combined insurance-credit arrangement for both Athens and Beijing. The executive board decided in February to go with the standard contingency insurance.
Carrion told AP the IOC negotiated the bulk of the coverage before the March 11 terror bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people.
"We were fortunate we had found capacity before the Madrid incident, that was very helpful," he said. "After the Madrid bombings, capacity become even more strained, and we would have felt it in the price."
Rogge said security has long been the IOC's "No. 1 priority" and that Greece has done "everything humanly possible" to safeguard the games.
"This is an unprecedented effort," he said. "More cannot be done. Nobody can guarantee 100% security, but we can guarantee that we've done everything that was available and possible."
Aside from terrorism, insurance experts told AP the main risk in Athens would be from earthquakes. Athens sits on a fault line. In 1999, a quake in the Athens area killed 143 people, injured about 2,000 and left thousands more homeless.
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 27, 2004
Morgan:News:2010 |IOC, Labour|
SPORTS COMMENTATOR SAYS FASEL UNDERSTANDS THE NHL WANTS TO GO TO VANCOUVER 2010, NOT TORINO
A veteran sports commentator says the weekend's comments by 2010 International Olympic Commissioner Rene Fesel about National Hockey League participation in the 2006 Torino games has to be confirmed by January surprised the NHL team owners and players as they attempt to prevent a strike/lockout this fall.
Damien Cox says in the Toronto Star newspaper that "For starters, Olympic competition has never formally been part of the league's CBA in the past, so it's not clear why the NHL involvement in 2006 would necessarily turn on a new agreement. If the NHL isn't playing in the 2005-06 season, all players would be free to go to Torino anyway. And if a new collective bargaining agreement were reached in July, 2005, there would still be ample time to create a schedule with an Olympic break."
Cox adds, "No, the truth is that Fasel already understands [NHL Commissioner Gary] Bettman really doesn't want to be in Italy, mostly because an Olympic hockey tournament with a six-hour time difference doesn't fit with the league's TV needs. That's why Fasel is no longer connecting the '06 Games with the 2010 Vancouver Games as he once did, saying the NHL has to be at both. Instead, he now says that if the NHL misses Turin, it could return to the fold for the much more appealing and convenient Vancouver competition.
"We're in Canada and I cannot see the NHL not being there," Cox quotes Fasel.
Cox adds, "This, quite frankly, stunned both the league and the players. It also removes Olympic participation as a bargaining chip for either side in the current labour stalemate without the fear missing 2006 will erase the NHL from the Olympic mindset forever."
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 27, 2004
Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC|
VANOC DOESN'T YET HAVE CANCELLATION INSURANCE IN PLACE FOR 2010 GAMES
A spokesman for the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) says the organization has operational insurance, but doesn't yet have cancellation insurance in place for the 2010 Games. It says, however, the cancellation issue will be addressed later.
Sam Corea, VANOC's communications director, was commenting on today's announcement that the IOC has put a US$170 million cancellation policy on this summer's Olympic Games in Athens as a matter of policy, and intends to do so for the games at least until 2010 to protect the IOC, its affiliated sports organizations and its national Olympic committees, such as Canada's.
"Risk management is a critical part of planning for any Games organizing committee," says Corea. "Insurance on VANOC's current operations is in place. However, the major coverage that the IOC refers to is an area that will be addressed later. VANOC's placement of cancellation coverage is not expected for some time yet as the insurance markets are not prepared to write such a policy that far into the future.."
Corea added that, "VANOC will address the situation at the appropriate time."
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 27, 2004
Morgan:News:2010 |IOC
Labour|
FASEL FRETS ABOUT NHL PLAYERS IN TORINO BUT NOT 2010 VANCOUVER GAMES
2010NewsWatch
The chair of the International Olympic Committee Commission which oversees the development of the 2010 Winter Olympics says he's confident that National Hockey League players will take part in the 2010 Games, but he's not so sure about the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy.
Rene Fasel, who is also the head of the International Ice Hockey Federation, said in a Reuters interview in Prague that if the NHL goes on a protracted strike as forecast this fall, the Commissioner of the NHL, Gary Bettman, was unlikely be able to confirm players from the teams would be playing in Italy for three weeks the following winter by the January 2005 deadline the NHL needs.
Fasel said to reporter Alan Crosby,"Gary Bettman has told me that for the NHL to send players to the 2006 Olympics, they have to decide by January 2005. But that decision would be part of an agreement with the NHLPA [the players' association], so if there is no agreement and no hockey in January, then they cannot commit to playing in Torino."
NHL players first represented national teams during the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, with the League taking a three-week break, allowing the cream of the players to travel, but that decision took years of negotiations to achieve. The move was repeated in the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games, when Canada defeated the U.S.
Fasel, however, said: "Whatever happens in 2006 has nothing to do with 2010 in Vancouver. If the NHL doesn't come to Torino, they can still play in Vancouver."
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 26, 2004
Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC|
VANOC BEGINS LOOKING FOR MID-LEVEL MANAGERS AND SECRETARIAL HELP
The Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) has begun looking for mid-level managers and secretarial help in several key administrative areas. Finance, procurement, administration and scheduling are the hot list for the moment.
VANOC documents say, "We are looking for exceptionally talented, flexible, energetic leaders with excellent interpersonal and relationship-building skills to contribute their knowledge, vision and forward thinking... Experience in a project-driven environment - where budgets and timelines are a challenge - is key."
There's no time deadline. VANOC officials say at this point, they're looking for resumes, which will be kept on file for six months. If a position becomes available which matches the person's skills and background, they will be contacted; if not, VANOC says people can simply resubmit their resume.
VANOC is looking for, on the finance side, a "senior expert in budget planning and control, policy writing." Financial reporting and management is one of the essential requirements, along with "experience in a project-driven environment."
For procurement, VANOC wants senior people who know about the public tender process, requests for proposals, writing contracts, who can maintain" internal customer satisfaction," as well people who are good at "defining, documenting and implementing policies and procedures."
On the scheduling side, the Committee is looking for people with planning-and-process development, who know how to use scheduling tools such as Microsoft Project and Primavera, and who have construction scheduling expertise. VANOC wants those applying to have extensive experience with multi-level project schedules, and "exceptional communication and interpersonal skills." It says that experience in developing customized project-tracking and project-monitoring tools is essential because the environment will be "task-driven, time-sensitive." And the documents add, "Previous multi-sport games experience an asset but not required."
Administration requirements at the moment include executive assistance for several departments, providing clerical and secretarial services and that these people, "may report to multiple individuals."
In addition, the administrative duties include: managing day-to-day activities of department heads, scheduling calendars, screening and responding to e-mail and voicemail, making appointments, co-ordinating meetings, preparing agendas and minutes, coordinating travel arrangements, ensuring ongoing accessibility to information and individuals by people inside and outside of VANOC, managing and maintaining the organization's filing system, preparing letters, correspondence and reports, filing, faxing, photocopying...
VANOC has leased two floors at 1095 West Pender for occupancy in June for the fourth floor and August for the fifth floor, with executive offices located on the fourth level and a cube farm on the fifth. The floors, which VANOC expects will be filled within 18 months, provide for about triple the current staffing level of 40, which includes full time, part time and consultants.
RESOURCES
========
E-mail address for submitting a resume:
human_resources@vancouver2010.com
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 26, 2004
Morgan:News:2010 |Paralympic|
PARALYMPICS TOLD 5% OF VOLUNTEERS WANT TO WORK EXCLUSIVELY FOR DISABLED ATHLETICS
The executive group of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), which met in The Netherlands over the weekend, says that research is showing that about 5% of people who have volunteered for this August's summer Olympics in Athens want to work exclusively for the Paralympics.
The results have planning significance for the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee in working out the staffing requirements of the Paralympic Games, which start March 12, 2010, about two weeks after the Winter Games finish, and use many of the same facilities. The Athens report to the IPC this weekend showed that of the 152,164 volunteer applications received by Greece, 25% want to work for both the Paralympic and Olympic Games, while the balance are only interested in the Olympics themselves.
The Vancouver volunteer roster, built during the Bid process, was about 20,000, but that is expected to dip and then build again as 2010 nears and volunteer recruitment efforts by the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee begin in later years. The rule of thumb is that a Winter Olympics is about a third the size of a summer Olympics, indicating that VANOC should be looking for about 50,000 volunteers for the 2010 Games overall, and that about 2,500 of those would be interested in working exclusively for the Paralympics portion, with about 12,000 interested in working for both the Olympics and Paralympic Games. But these figures are still quite rough at this stage.
The IPC is the international governing body of sport for athletes with a disability. It supervises and co-ordinates the Paralympic Summer and Winter Games and other multi-disability competitions, such as the World and Regional Championships. The IPC, headquartered in Bonn, Germany, also supports the recruitment and development of local, national and international athletes.
The executive committee also had a look at the first draft of the organization's Constitution and bylaws, which will be approved by the 2005 IPC General Assembly. Nomination and election procedures for the IPC Governing Board, which will replace the current EC in 2005, and which may have an effect on how the 2010 Winter Games are organized, were also discussed. IPC President Phil Craven, speaking after the meeting at the Papendal Sport Centre in Arnheim, said: "A lot of work was done in essential areas specifically regarding the new governance principles, but also concerning sport, branding, sponsorship and development."
The Executive Committee was also told that 115 national Paralympic committees (NPCs), all sports and all International Organizations of Sport for the Disabled have now signed the World Anti-Doping Code. Any NPC, which has not signed the Code, will not be allowed to participate in the Athens Paralympic Games. The International Olympic Committee has taken the same position.
The executive committee was also told that four new NPCs were approved for membership: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iraq and Nepal, bringing IPC membership to 160 national organizations.
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 26, 2004
Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC|
TEAM 2010 HELPERS AWARDED GROUP VOLUNTEER AWARD
Team 2010 volunteers from Vancouver and Whistler have been given the Community Service Award, Group Category, at Volunteer Vancouver's Recognition Awards this month.
Team 2010 volunteers helped acquire about 150,000 supporter signatures, part of the 2010 Winter Games Bid. The volunteers represented the Bid at numerous community events and functions and helped operate the Bid's information centres in Vancouver and Whistler. A Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee spokesman says "Their contribution was an essential component of producing the winning bid."
RESOURCES:
========
Volunteer Vancouver website:
http://www.volunteervancouver.ca/
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on April 26, 2004