Next of on the list (marketing efforts) for the TOP Olympics is Kodak!
Kodak is the offical film and imaging sponsor for the Olympics and has been so for the past 20 odd years. The company announced last year that they were pulling the plug for the Olympics sponsorship.
Some of their efforts this year has been very web2.0, rather than showing the medal tally count and the stats, they will be showcasing the fans experience in words and in pictures!
1) They have a blog which will showcase Jenny Cisney, chief blogger, experience at the Olympics. In addition, it will also cover Richard Mackson, a former sports illustrator photographer who will share photo tips and tricks
2) Picture of the day
3) More can be read here
While the company has been facing a decline due to the digital age, and facing heavy costings to move from film to digital, it got me wondering if such a move was a wise one. To pull out sponsoring an event that would reach an estimated audience of 4 billion.
Then i came across this article, stating that the Beijing Olympics was unlike the rest of the Olympics. And i begin to see why it might be a good move to stop the sponsorship after the this year’s Olympics when compared to the 2012 London Olympics.
1) China has an immature consumer market
2) Pride of China hosting the games makes brand leveraging with the event easier
3) Strict government laws (for once it might be good) on ambush marketing which might not have been possible in other countries
4) ta hao guan xi ( building good relationships) with the government officials being an integral part of doing business
5) Shift in consumer behavior (and i quote from that article)
Instead, marketers will have to weigh whether there are more cost-effective ways to reach consumers and leverage Olympic enthusiasm without having to pay the high price. Frank Vial, strategy director of branding agency Landor Associates, argues that in a world that’s moving toward targeted marketing, “maybe the Olympics will have to reinvent itself as something other than a global, monolithic brand.”
So while some might doubt the wisdom of Lenovo and Kodak pulling the plug, i can begin to see why the ROI for such a sponsorship in the winter 2010 and summer 2012 games might not be as effective as this year’s Beijing Olympics.
Its gonna be hard to measure the ROI for such a sponsorship which is highly costly, but now i ask myself, “Are the brands pulling out because of a change in consumer behavior towards sponsorships?”
or like the article abstract i mentioned,
“Does the Olympics have to reinvent its brand to appeal to a new generation?”
What are your thoughts? Please do share!
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