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Time - Man of the Year
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Time_Man_of_the_Year_Compact_Publishing_3YX-Disc-1_Compact_Publishing_1993.iso
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Wrap
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1993-04-08
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2KB
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45 lines
THE WEEK, Page 22BUSINESSWho's the Loser?
Corporate sponsors get bashed in the Olympics' newest event
The Olympic Games may be starting in Barcelona, but the
affiliated Corporate Sponsor Marketing Games have been going hot
and heavy for some time. The main event is a piratical
competition known as ambush marketing. The venues are magazines
and television. The major matches so far are Visa International
vs. American Express and Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi-Cola.
Visa has forked over $20 million to Olympic organizers to
make its charge plate the Games' official credit card, while
Coca-Cola has plunked down $33 million to become the official
soft drink. Challengers, who pay no entry fee to play, attempt
to disrupt the exclusive promotional campaigns with disguised
Olympic tie-in ads of their own. American Express denies that
it is playing ambush. Instead its clever effort, unveiled last
week, is billed as "corrective advertising," aimed at
misperceptions fostered by Visa advertising that the American
Express card is not accepted in Barcelona. "The Olympics don't
take American Express," warns Visa. Counters the American
Express ad: "And remember, to visit Spain, you don't need a
visa." Pepsi is taking a sentimental approach. Its commercial
features Magic Johnson, a mainstay of the U.S. basketball team.
Non-Olympians count themselves winners when surveys show
that consumers cannot tell which company has the official
imprimatur. The real Games, however, could end up the loser if
the corporate games get so rough that companies decide to quit
paying for exclusive sponsorships. The money collected from
selling rights goes for training players and staging trial
competitions.