P&G will become an official Olympic worldwide partner in the “personal care and household products” category through to 2020, including for the London 2012 Olympic Games, Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games and the Rio 2016 Olympic Games (as well as for the 2018 Olympic Winter Games and the 2020 Olympic Games, for which the host cities have yet to be elected). As part of the agreement, P&G will also partner the IOC and the National Olympic Committees around the world, including Ireland.
IOC President Jacques Rogge said, “Procter & Gamble is a first-class company, and we are absolutely delighted to announce that we will be partnering with it until 2020. P&G’s global reach and consumer insight will be a real boost in our efforts to communicate the Olympic values to a worldwide audience, and its financial support over the next decade will benefit the entire Olympic Movement, including the athletes themselves.”
“P&G is proud to support the Olympic Movement for the next 10 years,” said P&G Global Marketing and Brand Building Officer, Marc Pritchard. “This partnership will allow us to continue building our business around the globe by offering all of our brands an opportunity to leverage the marketing power of the Olympic Movement. But, this is about more than just a sponsorship. We will utilise this partnership to further deliver on our purpose-inspired growth strategy to improve more lives, more completely around the world with a focus on making life better for athletes, mums and their families.”
IOC Marketing Commission Chairman Gerhard Heiberg added, “P&G has become the 11th partner to join the TOP programme in this cycle, and we already have eight partners through to 2016 and five partners through to 2020. In its 25th year, the TOP programme continues to grow and develop, and the long-term support provided by our partners is essential for the strength and stability of the entire Olympic Movement.”
Ireland’s OCI President Pat Hickey attended the contract signing ceremony in London in his role as a member of the IOC’s Marketing Commission and as President of the European Olympic Committees.
TOP stands for The Olympic Partners programme. Created in 1985, the TOP programme, managed by the IOC, is the only sponsorship with the exclusive worldwide marketing rights to both Winter and Summer Games.
As an event that commands the focus of the media and the attention of the entire world for two weeks every other year, the Olympic Games are one of the most effective international marketing platforms in the world, reaching billions of people in over 200 countries and territories throughout the world.
Sponsors’ support – be it financial, operational or through the provision of products – is crucial to the staging of the Games and the operations of every organisation within the Olympic Movement including the IOC, Organising Committees (OCOGs) and the National Olympic Committees (NOCs).
