Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, Coca-Cola
Muhtar Kent pilots the pre-eminent sponsor of the Olympics into a new era of marketing.
Good nutrition and healthy lifestyle are becoming part of the Coca-Cola message, increasingly delivered via new media.
"We are laser focused on digital and social media of all sorts, and we think there is enormous opportunity ahead in this space to reach consumers and stakeholders in meaningful, relevant and compelling ways," Kent said in remarks last year at the Olympic Congress in Copenhagen.
Besides advertising, Coke's support of Olympic programs such as the Olympic Torch Relay, make the company indispensable to the IOC. The current Coke IOC sponsorship runs until 2020.
Kent, 58, joined Coca-Cola in 1979 and held a range of marketing positions for 20 years. He left Coke to run Turkish beverage firm Efes, but returned to the Atlanta company in 2005. He was named chairman and CEO in 2008.
Kun Hee Lee, Chairman, Samsung Electronics
The reclusive chairman of Samsung is unique for his role as chairman of an important worldwide Olympic sponsor – and the senior IOC member from South Korea, which is bidding for the 2018 Winter Olympics.
As if that isn’t complicated enough, Lee is also shadowed by his conviction and pardon for tax evasion and breach of trust. Lee’s IOC membership was suspended while his case was being decided. His membership was restored earlier this year but with a reprimand from the IOC Ethics Commission.
Despite the difficulties, Lee and Samsung are influential to the Olympic Movement for the support they provide, whether product or cash. Samsung outdoor advertising is prolific during the Games, as was the case in Vancouver for the Winter Olympics and in Singapore for the Youth Olympics.
In an understated way, Lee is likelyto lobby fellow IOC members on behalf of the PyeongChang bid in these final months to the July 6 vote. Indeed, his pardon last December was granted with the hope of the Korean government that Lee would be able to assist the PyeongChang bid.
Lee, 68, joined the IOC in 1995.
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Written by Ed Hula.
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