Evolution of Marketing for the Olympics

The Olympics have become one of the largest international marketing platforms in the world. They are able to reach billions of people, in over 200 countries. It is the perfect opportunity for companies to showcase their products and services, on an international stage, to a audience that is hard to match. Some of the major sponsorships for the Olympics, include: Coca-Cola, GE, McDonald's, Samsung, Visa, Panasonic, and that's just naming a few. Commercial partnerships alone account for 40% of revenues generated for the entire Olympic games. These revenues are a vital part of the Olympic Movement and are what helps fund the staging of the games, as well as the teams and athletes.That's not including the technical support and gear some of these partner's provide for the games.

I found an interesting article, that takes a look at marketing for the Olympic games and how it has changed over the past century.

 Here is the link to the article: http://www.olympic.org/sponsors/100-years-of-olympic-marketin

In case you don't have time to check it out, I wanted to point out some of the major marketing turning points that caught my attention. These events have helped sculpt what the Olympics are today.

1920: The Olympic program was filled with corporate advertising for the first time.

1928: Coca-Cola began its partnership with the Olympic games, which still continues today.

1936: First games to be aired on television. This marked the start for broadcasting the games, which is a major revenue generator and promoter.

1952:  The establishment of the first International Olympic Marketing program.

1964: 250 companies had agreed on sponsorships with the games.

1972: The rights to use the official Olympic emblem were sold.

1988: The Olympic Partners Worldwide sponsorship program was formed.

1996: First games to be funded entirely by private sources.

2004: Live coverage was available to a large number of countries for the first time.

2008: They were the most watched games in Olympic history.

As you can see a lot has happened with marketing for the Olympic games over the past century. The chart below show's you a pie chart of how the International Olympic Committee generates their revenues. Over 90% comes from broadcasting and sponsorships alone. With out these sources the Olympics would not be nearly as big as they are.