Sponsor Spotlight -- General Mills Joins Dow Jones Index; First Partner for Glasgow

General Mills Added to Dow Jones Index

As an official supplier to the London Olympics, General Mills will now be added to the Dow Jones Summer/Winter Games Index.

This index measures the performance of all publicly traded securities of official Olympic sponsors, partners and suppliers.

The addition comes after General Mills announced in August that its Nature Valley brand would be the official cereal snack bar for the Games.

No components will be deleted from the index and the number of components will increase from 37 to 38. The index is reviewed quarterly in March, June, September and December.

Glasgow 2014 Gains Sponsor

Commercial law firm Harper Macleod LLP is the first sponsor for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.

As a tier two sponsor, the law firm will provide services including legal counsel on commercial contracts, sponsorship, broadcasting, anti-doping and licensing.

"We are really pleased to be in the position of appointing Tier 2 sponsors just under three years out from the Games. When you look at previous Games, we are ahead of the curve and hope to continue in a similar vein," said Glasgow 2014 chairman Robert Smith.

"Getting sponsors on board in this economic climate does have its challenges, but Glasgow 2014 has such a good story to tell that businesses like Harper Macleod couldn't wait to be formally associated with us in this way," he added.

Martin Darroch, chief executive of Harper Macleod, said the Games would benefit Scotland’s economy.

"People will be more active, communities regenerated, more jobs created and Scotland will be shown in all its glory around the world, which should encourage tourism and, hopefully, inward investment," he said.

"We also see the Games as an opportunity to build lasting relationships throughout the Commonwealth that will help bolster our nation and help us compete better in local, national and international markets."

More tier two sponsors will be announced in the upcoming weeks.

Sochi Prepares to Sign More Sponsors

Sochi 2014 head tells ATR that more sponsors will come on board next week.

In July, Dmitry Chernyshenko said sponsorship deals worth a total of $200 million were in the pipeline.

At least two tier-three deals would be announced next week.

"The Sochi Investment Forum [Sept. 16-17] will be an interesting event. We are planning to sign several agreements with international companies," he said.

Having already signed $1.1 billion in sponsorship deals, Sochi 2014 organizers are well on track to achieve their $2 billion operating budget. The merchandising program, only recently launched, will also generate significant revenues.

Olympics: A Platform for Recycling

The managing director of a U.K.-based recycling company says the Olympics are an opportunity to educate the public about recycling.

"This is a positive story and we have just got to make sure we do not get this wrong," Closed Loop Recycling managing director Chris Dow told packagingnews.co.uk.

"The way to not get this wrong is to make sure we communicate effectively and ensure that packaging going into the game is 100% recyclable and to ensure that it is ending up at a proper recycling centre, like ourselves, based five miles away from the Olympic site in Dagenham," he said.

Closed Loop Recycling is the U.K.’s first food-grade recycler. The facility in Dagenham processes mixed bottle waste that would otherwise be exported for recycling or sent to a landfill.

Written by Ann Cantrell.