Sponsor Spotlight: Samsung, IAAF Partnership; McDonald's Criticism

8/16/2009

 Samsung Launches Partnership with IAAF

(ATR) Samsung unveiled its digital gallery to a gathering of Olympic and track and field officials on the first day of the IAAF World Athletics Championships in Berlin.     

IAAF president Lamine Diack cut the ribbon Saturday to launch the digital gallery of products in the sponsor pavilion next to the Olympic Stadium staging the Aug.15-23 event.

In a short speech, he applauded Samsung’s partnership with athletics governing body’s biennial showpiece. It’s the first time the Korean electronics giant has sponsored the championships.

“We are very pleased to have Samsung joining us, to say ‘we will support your program and we need our brand to be linked to athletics’,” Diack told the 30 guests gathered outside the sponsor’s pavilion.

“Our relationship will build up more and more in the future.”

The cost of the sponsorship was not disclosed but IAAF spokesman Nick Davies tells Around the Rings it is worth “tens of millions” of dollars.

Sang Heung Shin, president and CEO of Samsung Europe, was among senior figures from the company at the ceremony.
Berlin 2009 organizing committee president Clemens Prokop attended along with Allen Johnson, gold medalist in the 110m hurdles at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics. Sergey Bubka, IOC member from Ukraine and senior vice president of the IAAF, and Helmut Diegel, an IAAF Council member and Germany’s foremost doping expert, were also present.

“Our links with the IAAF are strong and this is reflected in our commitment to the world of global athletics,” said Shin. “The Samsung digital gallery here is a unique and exciting experience.”

Samsung boasts the largest sponsor pavilion for the IAAF championships, the venue showcasing the digital gallery of products for visitors to the championships.

IAAF Continues Partnership with Seiko

Seiko will continue its long-standing role as the official timer for the IAAF for another four years.

The IAAF and Seiko reached an agreement to continue their 25-year partnership on Thursday in Berlin, site of the world athletics championships.

Under the new agreement, Seiko will remain the official timer of the IAAF through 2013, with the Japanese company providing timing and measurement services to 19 events, including the 2011 and 2013 world championships in Daegu, South Korea and Moscow.

New Clock, Sponsor for YOG

Organizers for the 2010 Youth Olympic Games in Singapore introduced a countdown clock and the event’s newest domestic sponsor this week.

Watch manufacturer Omega presented its clock to signify the official one-year countdown to the inaugural Youth Olympic Games at a ceremony in Singapore on Saturday. Omega is the official timekeeper of the Olympic Games and will also serve in that capacity at the 2010 YOG.

Meanwhile, the Singapore 2010 committee has signed Crocodile International as the official apparel partner and tier-one partner on Thursday. It is the eighth domestic sponsor.

The 2010 YOG will also get the support of Olympic TOP sponsors, although the level of participation is still to be decided, according to the IOC.

As part of their agreement with the IOC, the companies that make up the TOP program – Acer, Atos Origin, Coca-Cola, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, Samsung and Visa – will have exclusive worldwide rights over the YOG.

Row Over McDonald’s London Deal

McDonald’s proposed deal with the London 2012 organizing committee to become the exclusive “meal brand” for the 2012 Summer Olympics is drawing fire from British restaurants and food companies, according to a report in London’s Observer.

The deal would give McDonald’s exclusive food rights at all venues during the London Olympics. British food companies say they have been told they can’t sell their products at Olympic venues unless they remove labels or change packaging.

Other critics say McDonald’s does not reflect British values or the multiculturalism of the area in east London where the Olympic Park is located.

“It’s outrageous that McDonald’s will be the enduring image of food at this magnificent showcase for London. There are a huge number of British companies who would benefit from being able to openly sell healthier, better produced, locally-sourced food,” London councillor Jenny Jones, a former head of the strategy group London Food told the Observer.

A story in The Guardian quoted a McDonald’s spokesman who said, "We are in discussions. In past games we have been the branded food retailer but there have been other 'unbranded' products on sale."

With reporting from Mark Bisson.

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