Olympic Marketing

The Olympic Games have become the definitive sports event, with an unparalleled global reach and a remarkably diverse constituency of stakeholders, from the IOC and International Federations to athletes, sponsors and fans. It has been estimated, for example, that 3.6 billion people (about half of the world population) watched at least one minute of the Beijing Games in 2008 on television. The driving force behind the rise of the modern Olympics has been the Olympic marketing programme, which has acted as a catalyst for cooperation between stakeholders and driven the promotion, financial security and stability of the Olympic movement.

This book is the first to explain the principles of Olympic marketing and to demonstrate how they can be applied successfully in all other areas of sports marketing and management. The book outlines a strategic and operational framework based on three types of co-productive relationships (market, network and informal) and explains how this framework can guide professional marketing practice. Containing case studies, summaries, insight boxes and examples of best practice in every chapter, this book is important reading for all students and practitioners working in sports marketing, sports management or Olympic studies.

Introduction 1. The Olympic System 2. Olympic properties and their Protection 3. Olympic Brand Marketing System 4. Olympic Marketing Model 5. International Olympic Committee Marketing 6. OCOG’s Marketing 7. National Olympic Committees’ Marketing 9. Olympic Sponsors’ Marketing. Conclusion

Alain Ferrand is Professor of Marketing at the University of Poitiers, France. He is also Director of the Center for Research in Social Science and Society (MSHS), Director of the MEMOS in French and Professor on the UEFA Diploma course in Football Management. He specialises in sport marketing with a particular emphasis on branding, sponsorship and sporting events communications strategies.

Jean-Loup Chappelet is Professor of Public Management at IDHEAP, the Swiss Graduate School of Public Management at the University of Lausanne. He specialises in sport management and sport policy with a particular emphasis on the organisation of Olympic Games and the governance of the Olympic System. He has written several books and many articles in these domains.

Benoît Séguin is Associate Professor of Sport Management at the University of Ottawa, Canada. His research on ambush marketing, sponsorship, and Olympic marketing has been published internationally in several academic journals. He teaches Olympic marketing at the International Olympic Academy.