Alibaba to Create Olympic Cloud

(ATR) The International Olympic Committee and Alibaba Group are joining forces in a long-term partnership through 2028.

Alibaba, in becoming the 13th member of The Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship program, will become the official "Cloud Services" and "E-Commerce Platform Services" partner to the IOC, as well as a Founding Partner of the Olympic Channel.

IOC president Thomas Bach, Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma and Alibaba Group chief executive officer Daniel Zhang announced the deal at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

In a conference call on Thursday, Alibaba chief marketing officer Chris Tung labeled the partnership "historic and unprecedented" and says the global leader in e-commerce will help the IOC create "a new Olympic games for a digital era".

Expect Alibaba to begin delivering cloud services within the year, needed for the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang,Around the Rings is told by Michael Payne, who brokered the deal for Alibaba with agency Shankai.

Payne, a former marketing director for the IOC says the sponsorship is an "unprecedented package of services for the digital needs of the Olympics".

One of the primary goals of the partnership for Alibaba is to create a global licensed product distribution network for Olympic properties. IOC director of television and marketing services Timo Lumme tells ATRthe platform will allow Olympic merchandising to be purchased on a level never before seen.

"We’ve been talking about working with our partners, organizing committees and National Olympic Committees to create a network and a clear platform so we can effectively sell and move beyond the current model where team merchandise is only available in the territory of the team," Lumme says.

"We need the e-commerce provider to build that out and operate that and create a business that’s able to go off the two billion consumers that Alibaba will be able to reach by 2020."

While the IOC and Alibaba execs avoided putting a price tag on the deal, estimates suggest the arrangement could be worth as much as $600 million, according to USA Today.

This is not the first sports partnership the China-based e-commerce company has engaged in as it continues to improve its position in the marketplace. Alibaba currently has deals with the International e-Sports Federation, Chinese Boxing Federation and is reportedly considering a long-standing deal with FIFA, the governing body of world football.

However, Tung tells ATR that Alibaba’s deal with the IOC is unlike its previous partnerships with sports organizations.

"This is a very good opportunity to leverage what Alibaba can do from a technology, expertise and media access standpoint to support the IOC to realize this transformation and provide a new way to connect with consumers," Tung says.

Lumme also did not rule out that the Alibaba platform could be utilized for Olympic ticketing in the future.

"When we talk about the strategic nature of it, you can see the construction of these digital platforms allows us to bring in new partners with the great strength of innovation," Lumme tells ATR. "It’s absolutely true that in the future we would partner up in other areas. We will pursue new avenues, new possibilities and new ways of thinking with our new digital partner."

Alibaba was not the only company considered by the IOC for the new spot on its TOP sponsorship program.

"The cloud infrastructure has been quite competitive, a lot of interest presented over the last couple of years in terms of potential partnerships," says Lumme.

"More than one company involved in this but it was very apparent and clear to us that Alibaba was really far and away the partner of choice for us, both in terms of the length and depth of commitment and breadth of commitment that this strategic alliance is based around."

With the announcement, Alibaba joins Atos, Bridgestone, Coca-Cola, Dow, GE, McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic, P&G, Samsung, Toyota and Visa on the TOP sponsor program.

Written by Kevin Nutley

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