[MUSIC] Hello. In the Olympic movement there are three kinds of sponsorship programs. There are the sponsorship programs of the National Olympic Committees for the funding of grants for athletes, the sponsorship programs of the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and the TOP Sponsors program, in which I will focus on in this video. TOP are the initials for The Olympic Partner. The TOP Sponsors Program is the most successful sponsorship program in the world of sport. We will explain its logics in the context of commercialization of Olympic Games, as well as it actors and its historical evolution. As we have already mentioned in the previous video, sponsor links to the Games in order to be associated with a very prestigious event, characterised by very positive attributes and a reliable image. One of the sponsors' aspirations is that some of the positive attributes of the sponsored event can be transferred to their brand or product. Sponsorship is an association agreement that take place between companies and one organization. The TOP sponsor program, the first sponsor program was inaugurated after the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The first TOP sponsor program for the period 1985-1988, which included the Calgary and the Seoul Olympics, envolved 9 companies that paid approximately $20 million each one. [BLANK_AUDIO] The TOP sponsor program was created by the International Olympic Committee President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, based mainly in two criteria. First of all it, was a global program that permitted the sponsors to collaborate with the International Olympic Committee, each one of the National Olympic Committees and Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and to associate its brand to the Olympic rings. Secondly, another essential characteristic of the TOP sponsors program was its worldwide exclusive. Only one company per sector can be a TOP sponsor. This limited global program can never include two companies that compete against themselves into the global market. The TOP sponsors program substitued the great variety and enormous number of sponsors authorized to use the Olympic marks. For example, according to Ferrand, Chappelet and Séguin, the Organizing Committee of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal had 600 sponsors. Eight years later, the Organizing Committee of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games opted for the exclusivity. This will be a very key word. This was an authentic success, with companies like Coca-Cola that paid more than $20 million for being associated to the Olympic brand before and during the Los Angeles Games. The success of the exclusivity opened the door to the creation of the first TOP sponsors program. Nowadays we are in the TOP eighth program, constituted ten different sponsors who pay more than 100 million Euros for the period 2013 to 2016, which includes the Sochi and the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games. Even though, the sponsoring does not only provide money to the International Olympic Committee. The sponsorship can be in cash and in-kind. Some of the sponsors provide state of the art technology or their expertise. In other words: products or services as a support to the International Olympic Committee or the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games. For instance, Samsung can provide with smartphones to athletes and officials during the Games, among other examples. The TOP sponsors program has increased its importance in the total incomes of the International Committee since its foundation, as you can see in the following slide. The number of sponsor has maintained it stable, among nine and 11. Coca-Cola, Visa or Panasonic TOP sponsors since the very starting. According to Ferrand, Chappelet and Séguin, in addition to exclusive worldwide marketing opportunities, TOP partners receive: Use of all Olympic imagery, as well as appropriate Olympic designations on products; hospitality opportunities at the Olympic Games; direct advertising and promotional opportunities, including preferential access to Olympic broadcast advertising; on-site concessions, franchises and product sale showcase opportunities; ambush marketing protection, in other words protection against the illegal use of the association with the Olympic marks by companies that are not in the TOP program. Acknowledgement of their support through a broad Olympic sponsorship recognition programme. Olympic sponsors cannot display their brand within Olympic venues, in the stadia, venues, and other sport grounds, according to Ferrand, Chappelet and Séguin. As we have mentioned a 90% of the incomes for the sponsorship program are redistributed among the Organizing Committee, the National Olympic Committees and through Olympic Solidarity program. And in the case of the TV rights the percentage which is distributed is exactly the same. Historically, there has been a controversy in the share of these incomes. The United States Olympic Committee received a 12% of the TOP revenues, a part of which comes from the American sponsors. American sponsors. To sum up, the eighth TOP sponsor program continues a formula of success that was inaugurated by Juan Antonio Samaranch in 1985, based on the exclusivity and protection to currently ten international companies which provide the Olympic movement with more than $1 billion for a four year period. The TOP sponsor program is supported in the worldwide prestigious image of the Games. TV Rights commercialization and TOP sponsor programs complement and reinforce each other. That is to say, television rights and TOP sponsors programmes works as an interrelated system for funding with success the Olympic Games. [BLANK_AUDIO]
