Sponsor Spotlight: Paris, LA Name Marketing Execs, EY for USA Rugby

Paris 2024 Names Marketing Exec

Marlene Masure is the new executive director of business development and partnerships for the Games organizing committee. She replaced Frédéric Longuépée, now president of the Girondins de Bordeaux football club. She started in her post on April 1.

Previously Masure served as vice president and chief marketing officer for the Walt Disney Company in France.

New Hires for US Olympic Marketing Team

Dave Mingey will join the New York staff of U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties as Head of Partnership Management and Activation. Mingey begins work April 15 reporting to chief commercial officer Chris Pepe

Mingey most recently was managing director at CSM Sport & Entertainment. He’s also been an executive with Nike, PepsiCo, Johnson & Johnson and Sirius XM.

Zaileen Janmohamed will begin work April 8 at USOPP as Head of Partnership Development and Innovation. She will report to Pepe.

Previously she was Senior VP of Client Consulting and Services at global agency GMR MARKETING. She worked with brands such as Intel, Google, Visa, Cisco, U.S. Bank and Square.

USOPP is the joint venture of the U.S. Olympic Committee and Los Angeles 2028. The joint venture is targeting to raise more than $5 billion for LA 2028 from sponsors, ticketing and other revenue sources.

Samsung Profit Plunge

Worldwide Olympic sponsor Samsung says that operating profit for the first quarter will drop 60 percent compared to the same period last year.

Decreased demand for memory chips and display panels is cited as the reason.

The global market for smartphones is in decline, more than four percent in 2018, a trend expected to continue this year.

Analysts say that Samsung’s financial picture should improve by the end of the year.

Samsung has been the Olympic sponsor for wireless communications technology since 1998. In 2018 the computer equipment category was added to the Samsung portfolio.

USA Rugby and EY

Consulting firm EY is named as Official Principal Partner of USA Rugby.

The two-year deal covers the senior USA men's and women's teams participating in the annual HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, the Rugby World Cup Japan 2019 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

EY, formerly known as Ernst and Young, is designated as the Official Professional Services Organization.

"EY will provide business strategy, digital and technological transformation services to USA Rugby. This includes fan and player engagement and experience capabilities," says a release.

Beginning this month the USA Men’s and Women’s senior national teams will wear all new EY branded Canterbury match and training kit.

The partnership follows EY’s involvement with Rugby World Cup 2015, the British & Irish Lions 2017, the Women’s Rugby World Cup 2017 and most recently, as the Official Professional Services Supplier of Rugby World Cup 2019.

Reported by Ed Hula.