Olympic Promotions Heating Up as Rio Approaches -- Sponsor Spotlight

(ATR) As the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics are less than 100 days away, Olympic sponsors and broadcasters are ramping up their promotional efforts.

At the Team USA Road to Rio event in New York City on Wednesday, Olympic TOP sponsor Samsung set up a virtual reality display, allowing Olympic fans to experience what it is like to compete in various Olympic sports such as pole vault, volleyball and diving.

VR technology made its Olympic debut at this year’s Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway in February. Olympic Channel chief Yiannis Exarchos says that virtual reality will play a major role in this summer’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

TOP sponsor Bridgestone also held a special ceremony to commemorate the 100 day countdown to Rio this August in New York City. On Tuesday evening Bridgestone hosted its ‘Toast to Team USA’ celebration at the Museum of Modern Art where several Team USA athletes and more than 300 Team USA supporters and other sponsors gathered to kick off the 100-day countdown celebrations.

To kick off its celebrations, TOP sponsor Visa announced it would be supporting refugee taekwondo athlete Raheleh Asemani from Iran as one of its 40 Team Visa Rio members.

Visa also announced that it will be managing the entire payment system across all Rio 2016 venues as the exclusive payment provider of the Games. Visa will implement 4,000 point-of-sale terminals across the Olympic venues as well as 11 ATMs in partnership with Bradesco.

Host broadcaster NBC is also kicking off its promotional campaigns. On Friday, NBC announced it will partner with Snapchat to deliver daily Live Stories during the two weeks of the Olympics as well as a Rio Olympic Discover channel. NBC will co-produce the Rio Olympic Discover channel along with BuzzFeed.

"We are thrilled to be working closely with Snapchat on extending the stories and excitement of the Rio Olympics to their large, dynamic, and socially active audience," said president of NBC Olympics Gary Zenkel

NBC also revealed its plans with Spanish language channel Telemundo to provide more than 200 hours of coverage of the Games. Telemundo and NBC Universo will have the most extensive coverage of the Olympics in Spanish language television in the United States ever.

"Telemundo is going to redefine Spanish-language Olympic event coverage in the United States with our Río presentation," said executive vice president for sports at NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises Eli Velázquez.

NBC’s ‘Road to Rio’ television campaign is also beginning with commercials featuring Team USA stars such as Ashton Eaton, Michael Phelps and Allyson Felix airing across the country.

Tokyo 2020 Signs Deal with airweave

Japanese mattress company airweave inc. is now an Official Partner of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the second tier of domestic partnership offered by organizers.

Also a sponsor of the United States Olympic Committee, airweave recently introduced its product line of mattresses to the United States. The company focuses on offering "quality sleep".

We’re looking forward to supporting the Tokyo 2020 Games as the bedding company that people can count on to make sure they get a good night’s sleep," said airweave chief executive officer Motokuni Takaoka. "Through our support, we aim to contribute to the successful delivery of Tokyo 2020 Games that will provide lasting memories for all who witness them, and inspire dreams that motivate children to participate in sports."

This new deal brings Tokyo 2020's total number of domestic partners to 34, 19 of which are Official Partners.

PyeongChang 2018 Signs Internet Portal Sponsor

The PyeongChang 2018 organizing committee added internet portal company Naver to its lineup of sponsors on Friday.

As South Korea's largest search engine and portal website, Naver will provide its various resources to support the Games and display advertisements.

"Engaging the participation and boosting the passion of the Korean public will be a key factor in determining success of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018," said POCOG president Yang-ho Cho.

"Games information can be distributed more accurately and quickly with the support of Naver, and help us draw more public attention."

BMW Delivers Speedy Wheels

BMW of North America, the Official Mobility Partner of the U.S. Olympic Committee this week unveiled its new racing wheelchair designed for U.S. Paralympians. The wheelchair features aerodynamic efficiencies, carbon fiber material, a complete chassis redesign and a personalized approach for customized athlete fit.

"Working on this project has been a truly rewarding experience for my team and we’re proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish in the last year and half with these athletes and their coaches," said Brad Cracchiola, Associate Director, BMW Group Designworks.

BMW, in its sixth year as a sponsor of the US Olympic and Paralympic teams, will continue to adjust and improve the wheelchair in the lead up to the Paralympics in September. In addition to building wheelchairs for Paralympians, BMW of North America has also designed and built bobsleighs for Team USA.

Republic of Korea Present Long Sleeved Uniform

The Republic of Korea Olympic opening ceremony uniform was designed with Zika in mind.

The uniform, released on April 27 to coincide with 100 days to go until the 2016 Olympics, features a long sleeved blazer and long pants. According to a release from the KOC, the fabric of the uniform features dye mixed with mosquito repellent to protect athletes during the opening ceremony.

Zika remains a concern for athletes and officials traveling to Rio de Janeiro. Rio organizers maintain that risk will be mitigated from mosquito prevention techniques and the fact that the 2016 Games will be taking place in winter.

Written by Kevin Nutley, Ed Hula and Aaron Bauer

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