Sponsors Spotlight : Hard to Miss Sponsors at Pan Am Games

(ATR) The streets and venues in Toronto showcase the support of sponsors for the Pan American Games.

Toronto 2015 chief executive officer Saad Rafi says the organizing committee has been surprised by the support shown by the more than 60 sponsors of the Pan Am Games.

"I think what this says about corporate Canada is they’re invested in the community and community building," Rafi tells Around the Rings.

Rafi says the lead partner CIBC has been there offering support for the last four and a half years right after the end of the last Pan Ams in Guadalajara.

The imprint of CIBC on the games is hard to miss in Toronto. From large advertisements on their buildings depicting athletes and information about the Pan Ams, their branch locations in the athlete village and the main press center and their name on venues, CIBC is making their presence known.

"When we decided to sponsor the Games, we held the view that we wanted to leave an imprint on the sports landscape in Canada from our involvement," vice president of sponsorship marketing Monique Giroux tells ATR.

Vice presidents of the company Stephen Forbes and Rob Assimakopoulos have even served as medal presenters for some of the events during the games. The company is also delivering special initiatives to increase client relations throughout the games.

"We are hosting more than 65 client events ‎during the Games, enabling us to show our appreciation to our clients and deepen our relationships with them. Throughout the Games we are using every opportunity to make visitors feel welcome through our activations such as CIBC PanAmazing Square, with extra special surprise and delight giveaways for CIBC clients," Giroux tells ATR.

Rafi tells ATR that CIBC is not the only sponsor making an impact on the games.

"The interconnections are fantastic and we have some very long-time Olympic sponsors including Coca-Cola who’s been sponsoring the Olympics since 1924, and Molson and Chevrolet who were both present in Vancouver."

The presence of Chevrolet can be seen throughout the streets of Toronto and en route to the venues spread throughout Ontario. The Chevy Equinox is the official games vehicle for transporting leaders of PASO and NOCs, family members of athletes and some members of the media. These cars can be seen lined outside of venues, the athlete village and hotels that members of the games family are staying.

Rafi also made a point to thank wireless internet provider Cisco who is offering free internet at many of the venues for the games and even some volunteers to help premier partner Atos disseminate accurate results.

"Our valued and dedicated partner Cisco is contributing technology and expertise to these games. They also have something called Cisco academy where they attract young people interested in technology careers and they have helped us to engage many of those skilled people for our games. These volunteers make very real and meaningful contributions to the wireless we use and the data centers that provide results," Rafi says.

The interest in the games from the Canadian community has even prompted lead broadcaster CBC to continue adding additional hours of coverage throughout the week for Pan Am events.

On Wednesday, CBC announced the addition of 12 hours of coverage throughout the games. On Friday, the broadcaster announced another extension of coverage, this time expanding weekday coverage by five hours for the final week of competition.

During each segment of coverage, the Pan Am sponsors are once again put on display during commercial breaks. CIBC, Chevrolet, Cisco, Molson and many others have special commercials designed specifically for the Pan Ams.

Written by Kevin Nutley in Toronto.

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