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TOP Deal on Back-burner after IOC Signs up Audi as Automobile Supplier |
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Olympics - 08 Jan 2013 - By Callum Murray in Lausanne
The International Olympic Committee announced today that Audi, the German car manufacturer, has become its automobile supplier, a sponsorship category which will involve Audi supplying cars for the organisation at its headquarters in Lausanne and at international IOC events.
The IOC and Audi are also set to co-operate on projects, including in the area of corporate social responsibility.
Audi takes over from another German car manufacturer, Mercedes, which had been an IOC supplier since 1991. Mercedes' deal expired at the end of last year.
The agreement is separate from agreements with car manufacturers to sponsor individual Olympic games, albeit Volkswagen, part of the same group as Audi, is already the official vehicle partner of the Sochi winter Olympics in 2014 (and performed the same role at the 2008 games in Beijing).
BMW was the vehicle partner for last year’s games in London, while Nissan is the vehicle partner for the 2016 games in Rio de Janeiro.
Audi is already a partner of the national Olympic committees of Germany, Finland, Russia and Switzerland, plus the FIS, the international ski federation, and 15 national ski teams.
The IOC deal is set to run until the end of 2016, with Audi supplying 40 cars from across its range to the organisation in Lausanne, plus further cars to events such as the IOC session in Buenos Aires in September.
The deal is the result of long-running talks which included the possibility of adding a car sponsor to the IOC’s top-tier ‘TOP’ sponsorship programme. This possibility has now apparently been shelved until after the 2016 games at least, given the deals with Nissan, and now Audi.
In 2010, Jacques Rogge, the IOC president, told Sportcal that the IOC was discussing a car sponsorship “for the longer future” given the existence, even then, of the BMW and Volkswagen deals for the 2012 and 2014 games, respectively.
Christophe de Kepper, the IOC’s director general, said today: “The IOC is delighted to have Audi, a world renowned company, as its official automobile supplier and we look forward to developing further social responsibility initiatives with them in the near future as part of this agreement.”
Luca de Meo, a member of the board of management for marketing and sales at Audi, said: “Through our cooperation with the IOC as the top-level global organization we aim to link our brand even closer with international sport," says "We're going to shape many exciting joint projects in the future.”
Sportcal |
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