Toyota Partners with Trinidad & Tobago NOC -- Sponsor Spotlight

(ATR) Toyota gave a check for $150,000 to the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) on Wednesday, the first check in a pledge of at least $750,000 worth of donations to be offered in the next five years.

The award will go into the TTOC’s #10golds24 Athlete Welfare and Preparation Fund. The funds were supplied by the Trinidad and Tobago branch of Toyota.

On top of monetary awards, the local Toyota branch will also offer internships to qualifying athletes. Internships in the areas of human resources, public relations, communications and sales will be made available. The company will offer ongoing training and education to the athletes.

Toyota will also be the official vehicle for the TTOC throughout the five year contract and could assist the NOC with promotional and advertising initiatives.

Earlier this year in March, the Toyota parent company signed a record $835 million deal with the IOC to be a top sponsor of the organization through the 2024 Olympics. They will have exclusive worldwide rights with the IOC beginning in 2017.

President of TTOC Brian Lewis says it is a bit surprising for a small NOC such as Trinidad and Tobago to receive such a deal from a worldwide Olympic sponsor.

"It usually happens in bigger NOCs, not usually in smaller NOCs, so Toyota T&T signing on to be a partner complements, so to speak, what is happening on worldwide basis but is a landmark deal for the TTOC and we would like to congratulate and welcome them on board," he said.

Marketing manager for the local Toyota branch Sean Shaffie says they are forward thinking when it comes to Olympic sponsorship.

"Starting today, we will be supporting our local Olympic contingent via the TTOC in readiness for the Olympic Games in 2020, not only because our parent company is an official Olympic sponsor but it is part of our burning desire to coordinate and contribute to Olympic success for our very own athletes," Shaffie said.

Dentsu Awarded Six-Year Asian Broadcasting Rights Deal

The IOC awarded broadcasting rights in Asia to Dentsu Inc. on Wednesday, allowing them exclusive coverage from 2018 to 2024.

The company will provide coverage to 22 countries within Asia beginning with the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea in 2018.

Dentsu began broadcasting the Olympics to the region in 2014 during the Winter Games n Sochi, Russia and have the rights to the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The new deal extends the relationship between the IOC and Dentsu to 10 consecutive years.

IOC vice president Zaiqing Yu and delegate for Broadcast Rights in Asia says Dentsu has extensive knowledge of broadcasting in the region.

"Dentsu has a good understanding of the region’s commercial and broadcast environment, and their expertise and insight will help the Olympic Movement develop its presence and ensure excellent Olympic broadcast coverage of future Games," he says.

Coca-Cola Focuses on Women, Water and Well-Being

Longtime sponsor of the Olympic Games Coca-Cola released their sustainability report highlighting progress made in 2014.

The three initiatives the company is working to improve upon are women in the workforce, water conservation practices and the well-being of the public.

Their initiative to support women in the workforce has enabled approximately 865,000 women in 52 countries since launching the program in 2010. Their goal is to economically enable 5 million women by 2020.

On a global scale, the company says they were able to replenish around 94 percent of all the water used in the total sales of their beverages for 2014. They did so through the efforts of 209 community water partnership projects in 61 countries.

Coca-Cola is working towards combating the public health issue of obesity as well. The company says it released over 400 new beverage options in 2014, of which over 100 contained reduced, low- or no-calorie options.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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