Sponsor Spotlight - Audi, IOC Partner; Olympic Brands Improve in Britain

(ATR) Audi is the official automobile partner of the IOC through 2016. The German car manufacturer announced the deal on Monday.

Audi replaces Daimler-Benz, the IOC’s automotive partner since 1991.

"Through our cooperation with the IOC as the top-level global organization we aim to link our brand even closer with international sport," Luca de Meo, member of the Board of Management of AUDI AG for Marketing and Sales, said in a statement. "We’re going to shape many exciting joint projects in the future."

Under the terms of the deal, Audi will provide more than 40 vehicles at IOC headquarters and other international events through 2016. The statement announcing the deal adds: "there are plans to jointly develop projects, for instance in the area of Corporate Responsibility, within the scope of the suppliership."

"The IOC is delighted to have Audi, a world renowned company, as its official automobile supplier, and we look forward to developing further social responsibility initiatives with them in the near future as part of this agreement," said IOC Director General Christophe De Kepper.

Audi is part of the Volkswagen group, sponsor of the 2008 and 2014 Olympics. Audi also sponsors the International Ski Federation and the National Olympic Committees of Finland, Germany, Russia and Switzerland.

Olympic Marketing Expert on Audi Deal

Olympic marketing expert Davis Butler tells Around the Rings Tuesday’s news that Audi will sponsor the IOC means it's unlikely that a different automobile company will join the elite TOP sponsor ranks.

"Most of the other auto companies will back away from a TOP deal knowing that Audi will have the right to have rings on cars in Switzerland and possibly in other territories where the IOC holds its meetings," he said in an email to ATR. "Also this type of relationship with the IOC can be harmful to OCOG and NOC deals unless the OCOG and NOC territories are fully protected."

Deals between car companies and organizing committees as well as National Olympic Committees are lucrative sources of revenue.

Butler is the former director of the IOC's Olympic marketing company, and now runs a marketing firm in Atlanta.

He added NOCs could see an increase in mini-bus donations as part of the deal, which would be a "good side" of the deal. A key part of DaimlerChrysler's partnership was supplying small NOCs with mini-buses.

"There will be significant marketing restrictions placed on Audi," he added. "I have to question whether it makes sense for Audi to enter into such an arrangement with the IOC. I have represented other automobile companies to whom offers have been presented where the terms made no business sense at all. I hope Audi negotiated well."

Olympic Brands Improve in Britian

British Airways, British Gas, BP, EDF Energy and Samsung are among the year's most improved brands in the U.K., according to a new report.

YouGov, the company in charge of the report, charted the top 10 brands in the U.K. along with the top 10 most improved.

Samsung appeared 9th on the top 10l ist for the U.K. after going unranked in 2011.

British Airways topped the list of most improved brands, while the top four were all Olympic sponsors. British Gas came in second, BP in third and EDF Energy in eighth.

The London Underground was also the fifth most improved brand in the U.K. after successfully transporting Londoners during the Games.

Olympic Timekeeper Sales Boost

Swatch Group, owner of brands Omega, Longines and Tissot, posted record sales of $8.8 billion in 2012.

The sales record was a growth of 14 percent for the Swiss timekeeping group.

The "good" net income was boosted from exposure during the Olympics as well an Asian tourist influx in Europe.

"Omega was one of the few corporate Olympic sponsors allowed to display its logo inside Olympic venues; the theory was that keeping time was integral to many events," the company said in a statement.

Omega is a TOP sponsor of the Olympic Games, Tissot sponsors many sports federations such as FIE, the IIHF, FIBA, and UCI, and Longines just signed on to be the top partner of FEI.

Written by Ed Hula III and Aaron Bauer.

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