Sponsor Spotlight - Panasonic Plans for London; Nike Talks Olympics

London Panasonic Plans

Panasonic unveiled details of its plans to supply audio visual equipment for the London Olympics – the company’s largest effort since becoming a TOP sponsor of the IOC.

Included in the plans are 47 103-inch plasma televisions, and delivery of 200 hours of 3-D Olympic broadcasting for the first time.

The company also says it will have the largest number of screens at venues with the largest screens-size area ever.

As part of Panasonic’s marketing plans for the Games, its pavilion at Olympic Park will be titled "Panasonic Full HD 3D Theatre" and will feature a full 3-D Panasonic home theater. An advertising campaign with the "Share the Passion" campaign will begin in earnest in the United Kingdom in the middle of June.

Nike Talks London

Charlie Denson, President of the Nike Brand, tells Around the Rings he expects London 2012 to be "every bit as big" as any Games ever.

The Nike exec goes on to say: "It gives us the opportunity to really communicate on a much broader scale in a much broader way around our brand and its attributes. But it also gives us the opportunity to introduce some of our newest and biggest innovations and you will see that again this summer at the Olympics."

Nike’s new "Flyknit" technology will make its debut at London 2012, where the retail giant hopes to have as large a presence as ever. The company also hopes that a large social media presence, in addition to a physical one, will have a large impact.

"I think we continue to move more and more of our focus and our spend into that digital realm, whether it’s through the social media opportunities, whether it’s through digital publications and communications. It’s becoming a bigger and bigger factor; it gives us the ability to really converse more specifically to different communities and be more strategic," Denson told ATR.

Denson also noted that the athletes competing in the Games wearing Nike gear also is very important for the brand.

"I think the great thing about the Olympic Games is the variety from which the competitions draw. You’ll see the traditional USA basketball team, the Brazilian football federation and some of the high-profile marquee athletes who are great. One of the more compelling parts of the Olympic Games is always the surprise of who comes forward and who becomes a star and some cases a superstar when most of the people had never even heard of them."

To read the rest of the interview, click here.

Visa Talks Social Media

Visa’s head of global brand and sponsorship marketing tells Around the Rings the "Go World" campaign is going "even more global" ahead of the London Games.

Jennifer Bazante talks about how Visa’s social media strategy is vital for the success of its "Go World" campaign, as well as how support for Team Visa athletes on Twitter is more popular and interactive than ever in preparation for London 2012.

"We launched Go World in 2008 around the Beijing Olympics and then had a very successful Vancouver Olympics as well using the Go World platform. This year, Go World has become an even more global proposition."

"We’ll be activating the Go World campaign in more than 70 countries around the world, so it’s a fantastic global platform where we’ve been able to achieve global reach and scale, but also allow for markets to adapt and customize the campaign to drive local relevance," she told ATR.

"We have been a longtime supporter of Team Visa athletes for the past 25 years. We’ve worked very closely with them. We support them in different ways, and they’re absolutely amazing to work with and they very much appreciate the partnership that Visa has with them. They are actively participating in the social media platform as well. They’re asking fans for their cheers and fans are responding."

To read the rest of the interview, click here.

YouTube Olympic Stream

The IOC will stream the London Olympics over YouTube in 64 countries.

Streaming video will only be available in countries where digital broadcasting rights were not secured.

All feeds will be available here.

Olympic fans will have the choice of 10 live streams from 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM London time with English commentary and a 24-hour news channel.

"We first provided clips on our channel on YouTube during the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games across the region, and since then have continued to provide footage of past Olympic Games across the world on our YouTube channel," IOC Marketing Director Timo Lumme said. "Now we will also be able to offer live coverage during London 2012, complementing the excellent coverage provided by our broadcast partners across the world across all media platforms."

Written by Ed Hula, Matthew Grayson and Ed Hula III. Compiled by Aaron Bauer.

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