Atlanta 1996: A Status Report

Abstract

The Atlanta Olympic Games are only a little more than 3 years away, and the Atlanta Centennial Olympic Properties, an arm of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games, has begun marketing sponsorship packages. A major concern of domestic and international sponsors is exclusivity and its relationship to protecting their investment over a period of time. Many fear the potential for ambush marketing, which has plagued recent Olympics. To date, success in signing sponsorship agreements with elite companies has reached only 50% of expectation. In fact, several former sponsors have already indicated they will not be renewing their global sponsorship effort. In an effort to capitalize, the City of Atlanta has come up with a new marketing wrinkle. Working with its Convention & Visitor's Bureau, the city has entered into anagreement with Visa to allow use of the phrase “official credit card of Atlanta.” Activity of this nature has further fueled the fear of ambush. The ever-expanding number of television channels available to carry Olympic programming will make the 1996 Games very appealing. Unlike the locations of SeouJ and Barcelona, the location of Atlanta within the Eastern time zone of the United States will enable more people to view events during desirable times. The high cost of sponsorship, along with the potential risk of a product's not being a runaway success, may limit sponsors to larger and experienced companies that can afford to gamble.