Sochi: Curse or blessing for sponsors?

In view of Sochi, Rivella has launched a campaign with a competition under the motto "Pack & Win". The Olympic Games enjoy a long tradition. Already in ancient times, these competitions were held to determine the world's best athletes in the individual disciplines. As a winter sports country, Switzerland is regularly successful, especially at the Winter Games. Reason enough for many domestic sponsors to use the world's biggest sporting event as a sponsorship platform. "The Olympic rings are probably the best-known and most coveted trademark in the world," says Gian-Carlo Schmid, Head of Sponsorship at Swiss Olympic. The umbrella organization of Swiss sport primarily offers its sponsors exclusive communication and advertising opportunities around the theme of the "Olympics" and the "Swiss Olympic Team". "Our partners associate their corporate values and products with 'Swissness' and the emotions in sport - i.e. with Swiss Olympic, the Swiss Olympic Team, the Olympic rings and the associated values of top performance, respect and friendship," says Schmid.Sochi controversyThe venue Sochi is also associated with controversy. The political tensions in Russia and the systematic disregard for human rights give rise to discussions. However, Gian-Carlo Schmid considers the risk for sponsors of being put in a negative light because of this to be very low: "We are convinced that the Swiss population can distinguish between the Swiss delegation traveling to Sochi to deliver top sporting performances and the accusations made by the media against the Russian government and the Russian organizing committee." Swiss Olympic has also issued a Position paper The trend today is towards the sponsors' own, individual implementations. In contrast to the past, Swiss Olympic did not launch a joint communication campaign with its leading partners for Sochi this time. "It is difficult to define a campaign that makes sense and is effective for several companies with different orientations," says Schmid."Rivella and sports go together"As a Leading Partner of Swiss Olympic, Rivella has been committed to Swiss sport for over two decades. For the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, the Swiss company implemented a national on-pack promotion based on the official Swiss Olympic "Collect & Win" campaign. Rivella supported the overarching campaign primarily with attractive communication platforms such as presence on all labels, sales promotion materials and online channels.As part of the sponsorship, the beverage manufacturer also used publisuisse's cross-media package for the launch of the new thirst-quencher campaign. Rivella was present with billboards on TV and on the radio with information trailers and teletext. "The national promotion paid off very well on the brand's core values," says Adrian Ehrbar, head of sports/events at Rivella. "Consumer surveys repeatedly confirm that Rivella and sports go very well together and that this is anchored in consumers' minds. The cross-media package was particularly effective."Help with packing and winFor Sochi, Rivella realized an independent on-pack promotion on Rivella Red. Under the motto "Pack & Win", the company launched a competition at the beginning of December 2013 as part of the broad-based promotion. Those who help their favorite athletes from the fields of skiing, ice hockey or bobsleigh to pack their bags will, with a bit of luck, win prizes worth a total of CHF 250,000. The prizes include VIP weekends for the Ski World Cup finals in Lenzerheide, including a meet and greet with the ski stars, vouchers from Ochsner Sport and exclusive Olympic fur hats. In addition, the promotion will be advertised online through a banner campaign and accompanied by special activation on Facebook. For this purpose, a Facebook app was specially programmed to receive additional codes for the "Pack & Win" sweepstakes. Anyone who wants to start a fun race with their favorite athletes before the 2014 Winter Olympics can take part in the promotion at www.rivella.ch/sochi A cross-media package with publisuisse is also planned for Sochi. Thanks to Rivella's partnership with Swiss Olympic and Swiss Ski, as well as its long-standing support of the Swiss national ski team, the Winter Olympics are a perfect environment for Rivella," concludes Adrian Ehrbar.