Insect Repellent Sponsor For Rio 2016 -- Sponsor Spotlight

(ATR) Rio 2016 is providing Off! mosquito repellent to protect visitors from Zika.

The organizing committee worked with SC Johnson on a partnership to deliver Off! brand repellent to all athletes and officials. According to a release over 100,000 free samples of repellent will be handed out at all venues during the Games.

Rio 2016 pursued the sponsorship after a prolonged outbreak of the Zika virus prompted international fears regarding the disease. The World Health Organization declared a public health emergency due to the outbreak, but have only issued travel warnings to pregnant women visiting Zika hot spots.

"We want everyone attending and participating in the Olympic and Paralympic Games to feel free to fully immerse themselves in the spirit of the Games," Fisk Johnson, SC Johnson chairman, said in a statement.

The 2016 Games will be taking place during Brazil’s winter, a time when mosquito populations are in decline. Organizers say that a drop in cases has already been seen, but encourage wearing repellent to further mitigate risk of being bitten.

Samsung Delivers First Olympic Inspired Phone

Samsung executives tell Around the Rings the Rio 2016 special edition Galaxy S7 was designed to match the sporting feats of Olympians.

For the first time ever the TOP Sponsor designed a smartphone to coincide with the Olympic Games. All Olympic athletes will receive the special edition phone, along with the newly designed Icon Gear X, a fully integrated wireless bluetooth headset designed to track athletic activity.

"Our slogan is ‘defy barriers,’ so that is what we are thinking in every product and technology we are bringing to market," Renato Citrini, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Samsung Brazil," said to ATR. "The barriers that athletes have to go through to reach the Olympic Games, that’s what we think every day when we designing our products."

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McDonald’s Adds Franchises

McDonald’s will re-franchise 4,000 restaurants by 2018.

The TOP sponsor announced the goal in a post-second quarter results meeting with investors on July 7. Before the re-franchising is complete, the company hopes to reach a savings target of $500 million by late 2017.

The new franchises are part of a turnaround plan for the company which began last year.

Tokyo 2020 Nears 40 Partners

Language training services for the Tokyo 2020 Games will be provided by EF Education First.

The company became domestic partner number 24 for the organizing committee, which now has a total of 39 domestic and international sponsors.

EF will work in training organizing committee members and volunteers in numerous languages to accommodate the influx of international tourists to Tokyo for the Olympic Games. EF has served as a language training provider for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, the 2014 Olympics in Sochi and most recently the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro .

"EF has a wealth of experience and a proven track record in providing language services at previous editions of the Olympic Games, and I am confident that we could not have a better partner to support our language training efforts for the Tokyo 2020 Games," Yoshiri Mori, Tokyo 2020 President, said in a statement. "I very much hope that with this support, the Tokyo 2020 Games will serve as an opportunity to enhance English language abilities across the whole of Japan."

Written by Aaron Bauer in Rio de Janeiro

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