IOC Day

Yesterday was our first full day in Lausanne, Switzerland after an awesome three days in Paris. We took a three hour train ride from Paris before settling in to the Hotel Du Port which is just across the street from Lake Geneva. Our hotel is amazing and has an incredible view across the lake and into the Alps. We settled in for the night after a group dinner at the local pizzeria down the street to get some rest for our big meeting at the IOC headquarters. We navigated along the lake by bus and by foot until we came upon the offices located in the middle of nowhere. We were welcomed by Timo Lumme, Managing Director of the IOC Television and Marketing Services, and four other members of his broadcast and sponsorship team.

They brought us into one of their newly renovated conference rooms and began discussing the business functions of the International Olympic Committee and its' role within broadcasting rights deals and major sponsorships through their TOP Program. I have a particular interest in marketing and corporate sponsorships so I found it especially intriguing when they discussed the power of the Olympic brand (the rings) and the highly desired association with the Olympic message. We looked at various research studies which analyzed survey participants response to the image of the rings and it was pretty amazing to see the variety of feelings and emotions that they evoked. While some spoke of the Olympics of simply being the highest stage in athletics, many people pointed out the diversity, pride and embodiment of high character that they felt when thinking about the Olympic Games. This diverse connection the games brings to people attract major sponsors who hope to reach and connect to a global consumer base. However, it was extremely interesting to listen to the staff discuss the TOP Program and how the IOC aims to limit the number of TOP sponsors to between 9-12 for each cycle of the games (winter and summer). This is to ensure maximum exposure for these brands and ensure a clean partnership exists and benefits both sides. 

After the meeting we walked to the Olympic museum which was located inside a boat in Lake Geneva. The museum is currently under renovation but we were fortunate to see the temporary exhibit which included a sample of each Olympic Games along with many short videos of some of our favorite Olympic stars. From there, we were given a brief tour of the Olympic Research Center and saw the different departments and areas which featured various types of books, magazines, etc. After this long day around Lausanne we finally settled down for nap time back at the hotel before a few of us went out at night to a local bar called El Blanco. Lausanne has been a great time and the scenery with the mountains has been perfect. Hopefully the weather holds up for our last few days here and we are able to go boating on the lake.