The modern Olympics, in addition to being the most complex sporting event in the world, have also evolved into a sophisticated marketing stage for companies with significant financial resources. There are four sponsorship tiers for the modern Olympics:
1. TOP (The Olympic Partners)-the highest level of sponsorship conferring exclusive global rights to sponsoring companies;
2. Domestic/Official Olympic Partner-which give sponsors domestic sponsorship rights (but not global);
3. Official Olympic Supporters (these are usually experts in vital logistics and related expertise); and
4. Official Olympic Providers and Suppliers (these firms provide vital goods and services).
TOP sponsorships are the most expensive, whereas Providers and Suppliers are the most affordable, relatively speaking (although none of the sponsorship levels are cheap...). I discuss the various sponsorship tiers in my latest book, The Olympic Games Effect, with a specific emphasis on the TOP program. The IOC sponsorship programs are vital to the ongoing success of the Olympics because the vast majority of the funding goes to support the NOCs (National Olympic Committees) of over 200 countries and territories, as well as the OCOGs (Organizing Committees of the Olympic Games--for the host cities), enabling the athletes from around the world to participate in the Games who otherwise could not afford to do so.
British Airways (BA) is a domestic sponsor, meaning the airline has Olympic marketing rights that can be used across the UK and in London. One of BA's responsibilities is to safely transport the Olympic flame to the different destinations where Torch Bearers cannot travel on foot (such as across large bodies of water, or small ones for that matter...). BA views their sponsorship as a rare opportunity to showcase the company, the UK and also be associated with the values and reputation of the Olympic Games. Marketers will appreciate that this is not an easy undertaking, and certainly isn't as simple as throwing money at the Olympics. Indeed, BA has four pillars in their Olympic sponsorship that, collectively, go to the heart of sports sponsorships: clear activation planning.
First, BA is using the sponsorship to emphasize their role as a leader in aviation in the UK. That may strike some as unnecessary considering BA is clearly the dominant carrier. However, companies around the world are always trying to tell us why they are special, and BA's use of the Olympics perhaps nudges them toward a more distictive and exclusive leadership status. Second, BA is using the Olympics to create a more emotional connection to the company. Emotional connections are among the key reasons sports sponsorships are increasingly popular among companies around the world--sports fans are uniquely loyal to their sports, teams and athletes. Third, BA is using the Olympics as a rallying point for its own employees, serving as a source of internal pride, if you will. Long gone are the days when employees are expected to do what they are told. Today, employees want to join companies that are pursuing something special and meaningful, where they can feel like they are part of a larger cause, and not just slot fillers earning a wage with little understanding of how their work contributes to the greater good. Sponsoring the Olympics overtly supports a larger global effort to bring people together from around the world to celebrate sport. Fourth, BA intends for their Olympic sponsorship to produce economic gain for the company by attracting more customers and building long-term business partnerships with other companies. This latter pillar is, of course, what shareholders and market analysts want to hear. After all, investing tens of millions of pounds without a plan for generating a positive return on investment would not be a popular decision.
Listing these four pillars isn't enough. As sports marketers know, successful sponsorships are intended to guide the tactical decision making required to realize the commercial gains. An interview with Frank van der Post, Managing Director of Brands and Experience at BA,sheds a bit more light on BA's London 2012 Olympic sponsorship efforts. His enthusiasm for and optimism about the Olympics is refreshing.
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