Abstract

This study is a critical analysis of the development of Olympic marketing. The emphasis is placed on the marketing practice of sponsorship and its relation to the mass media and the International Olympic Committee. This thesis seeks to assess the significance of sponsorship at the Olympics from a media event perspective. The study conducts the critique through a textual analysis of marketing and Olympic literature, and Olympic advertising campaigns. The information is framed within Raymond William's advertising theoretical framework and Sut Jhally's 'sports/media complex' model. Sponsorship is explored by reference to the actual operation of the industry within the context of marketing, the historical relationship the mass media have had to the development of sponsorship, and the specific permutations which this development has undergone. This analysis shall study the development and lead to the assessment of the 1996 Atlanta Games, specifically through Nike Inc.'s Atlanta Olympic campaign that is used as a case study. There is no other event like the Olympics which have become a media and marketing event. A theory of an 'Olympic/media complex' is developed between the Games and organizers, the marketers, and the mass media. The relationships between these components of the Olympics are explored and found to be inherent, interdependent, and influential in the commercialization of the Gaines. This study of the 1996 Atlanta Games concludes that the IOC should take the leadership role in developing a proactive marketing strategy for future Olympiads.