IOC Misses TOP Sponsor Target for Sochi

(ATR) IOC marketing chief Gerhard Heiberg tells Around the Rings there will be no new TOP sponsor for the Sochi Olympics.

Speaking to ATR Tuesday, the Norwegian IOC member said talks were ongoing with potential partners but the 11th and 12th top-tier sponsors he had hoped to bring in ahead of Sochi 2014 had proved a more challenging ambition than anticipated.

"I am sorry to say I will not succeed with this so I will have to leave it to my successor," said the outgoing commission chairman who steps down after the Sochi Olympics.

"We are still talking to companies. Things are positive but they take more time. A little patience and hopefully we will be there."

Heiberg denied that the furor around Russia’s human rights record, including the anti-gay law introduced last summer, had prevented the IOC from securing additional TOP sponsors for the country’s first Winter Games.

"No, I would say that we have different challenges with different possible new sponsors but these questions have not come up," he said.

"[The human rights issues] are related to one Games but a TOP sponsor will sign up for four or eight years. It takes a long time. A lot of different issues have to be solved. I am sure we are going to succeed with getting one or two more."

The IOC has been in discussions with U.K.-based pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and Chinese computer manufacturer Lenovo, among other companies, about joining the TOP sponsor program for at least the 2013-2016 Olympics cycle.

Lenovo could return as a premium sponsor in a new category that incorporates the increasing use of tablets in the computer technology landscape.

Two new sponsorships for the cycle would take the IOC's TOP sponsor revenues over $1 billion for the first time. The IOC has already booked more than $720 million from seven companies for the 2017-2020 period.

Heiberg said he had expected the new tech category to be tough to fill because of rapid developments in the computer and tablet industry. He said the overlapping of products from different companies with existing sponsors "perhaps made it more difficult than I thought in the beginning."

"It is hard to solve to the satisfaction of everybody," Heiberg admitted.

With a little over three weeks to the start of the Games, Heiberg revealed that some of the IOC’s existing TOP sponsors had expressed concerns about how possible protests against Russia’s human rights records might hurt their brands.

"I would say they are worried and they have every reason to be worried," he said.

"We talk very openly with them to try and find possible solutions to this. Now Russia has an area for demonstrations [a designated protest zone]. We are trying to find ways and means of limiting the challenges… but this is not easy."

Despite handing over the marketing commission brief to a new chairman, who is expected to be announced in the next few weeks, Heiberg is in regular contact with the IOC’s TOP sponsors and marketing department as he aims for a smooth handover.

Amid all the talk of terrorism threats to the Sochi Games, Heiberg is confident that Russia will stage a magnificent Olympics.

"I am sure Sochi will be the safest place in Russia during the Games. They really will take care of the security challenges," he said.

"All the venues are fantastic, perhaps the best venues for the winter Games ever," said the former head of the 1994 Lillehammer Winter Olympics organizing committee. "Competitions will be wonderful and the athletes extremely happy."

Written by Mark Bisson.

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