Samsung Extends TOP Status -- Sponsor Spotlight

(ATR) Samsung will be the exclusive wireless communication and computing partner of the IOC through the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Thomas Bach traveled to Seoul this week to sign the agreement at Samsung headquarters, following a 10-day trip to Tokyo. He was joined by Samsung chairman Jay Lee and IOC Marketing Commission Chair Tsunekazu Takeda.

Samsung became a TOP Sponsor of the IOC in 1998 for the Nagano Olympics. By the end of the current deal the company will have been a sponsor for 16 Olympic Games.

"We have built a partnership combining Olympic excellence and Samsung’s industry-leading wireless communications technology," Bach said in a statement. "Together, we are able to connect with and inspire Olympic athletes and fans around the world, and we look forward to working with Samsung to build the digital future of the Olympic Games."

Samsung provides each member of the Olympic family and Olympic athletes with a special edition phone at the Games. Another area of the partnership says Samsung can "promote" 5G telecommunication networks including with Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality, and Augmented Reality.

The partnership will extend beyond the Olympics to include all editions of the Youth Olympic Games. An extension on the company’s worldwide partnership with the International Paralympic Committee was included in the deal.

With Samsung, the IOC has five companies in its TOP Sponsorship signed through the 2028 Olympics. This includes Allianz, Alibaba, Omega, and Visa. The latter two companies are signed all the way through 2032.

Atos, Coca-Cola, Dow, GE, and P&G are the five TOP Sponsors which only have agreements until 2020.

Tokyo 2020 Adds Sponsors

Tokyo 2020 added two more "official supporters" this week.

Ottobock will service the equipment used by Paralympians for competition and everyday use for the 2020 Olympics.

For Ottobock, it will be the 16th Paralympic Games partnering with the local organizing committee. The company has a worldwide partnership with the International Paralympic Committee through 2020.

The sponsorship covers the "Therapeutical Medical Devices, Rehabilitation and Mobility Healthcare Products and Exoskeleton" category. Tokyo 2020 estimates that the company will conduct around 2,000 repairs involving around 15,000 spare parts during the Paralympics.

Tokyo 2020 also welcomed Morisawa Inc. as an "official supporter" this week in the category of "Font Design & Development Services".

An "official supporter" is the third tier of domestic sponsorship for Tokyo 2020. Organizers say there are now 57 domestic partners for 2020.

Liebherr's Partnership with ITTF Grows

The long-term partnership between table tennis and Liebherr will be growing over the next two years.

The company will be title sponsor for the 2019 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary and major sponsor for the 2020 edition in Busan, South Korea. Liebherr will also be the title sponsor for the next two European Championships in 2019 in Nantes, France and 2020 in Warsaw, Poland.

Liebherr, a global technology company in the construction machinery sector among other industries, counts the last two World Championships among the many major ITTF tournaments it has sponsored over the years.

"Liebherr is a longstanding partner of the ITTF. We have made many experiences together and they are like a member of the family to us," ITTF president Thomas Weikert said in a statement. "The ITTF team and I are delighted that we can continue to increase our activities together over the next two years to keep promoting table tennis further still."

Additionally, the ITTF on Friday announcedNittaku had extended its advertising contract across ITTF digital platforms until 2020.

IAAF Allows Kit Sponsor Logos For Worlds

The IAAF Council voted this week to permit national teams, for the first time, to display the logo of a national sponsor on their kit for the IAAF World Athletics Championship in Doha this summer.

This brings the Worlds into line with the other World Athletics Series events, allowing member federations to use the same kit for all of the events if they desire.

Member federations who want to feature a national sponsor on their kit for the Worlds must get approval from the IAAF Steering Board, as is the case with the other events. The same national sponsor cannot have its logo appear on the kits of more than four member federations.

Written by Gerard Farekand Aaron Bauer

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