Toyota has $1B Olympic spirit
Company becomes first automaker to join IOC's top-tier marketing program.
Toyota has $1B Olympic spirit Company becomes first automaker to join IOC's top-tier marketing program. Check out this story on clarionledger.com: http://on.thec-l.com/1CeqXEy
Associated Press Published 7:18 p.m. CT March 13, 2015
International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach, right, and Toyota Motor Co. President Akio Toyoda hold their agreement document Friday.(Photo: Reuters)
TOKYO – The world's biggest automaker is driving onto the world's biggest sports stage.
Toyota Motor Corp. signed on as a global Olympic sponsor Friday in a landmark deal reportedly worth nearly $1 billion, becoming the first car company to join the IOC's top-tier marketing program.
The eight-year deal underlines Asia's growing influence in the Olympics, bolsters the IOC's long-term financial security and gives Toyota a worldwide platform that shuts out rival auto manufacturers.
The deal starts globally in 2017 and runs through the 2024 Olympics. It will cover three consecutive Olympics in Asia, including the 2020 Tokyo Games on Toyota's home turf.
The International Olympic Committee's TOP sponsorship program gives companies exclusive worldwide marketing rights and permission to use the Olympic rings in advertising.
Terms of the deal were not announced, but Japanese media reported Toyota will pay $835 million — a record by far for any IOC sponsorship deal. Four-year TOP sponsorships have usually sold for about $100 million and eight-year agreements for $200 million, so the Toyota deal represents four times that.
Toyota joins as a sponsor in the new "mobility" category.
"This is a very symbolic day," IOC President Thomas Bach said after signing the agreement in Tokyo with Toyota president Akio Toyoda. "It is the first time in the successful history of the TOP program that we have had a mobility category."
Toyota becomes the third Japanese company to become a worldwide Olympic sponsor after Panasonic and Bridgestone. Toyota also becomes the 12th TOP sponsor overall and third committed through 2024.
The Toyota deal covers the 2018 Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and the 2022 Winter Games and 2024 Summer Olympics.
JAPANESE CLOUT
The Toyota deal is another example of Japan's economic influence in the Olympics. Last year, the IOC awarded Japanese TV rights to a national consortium in an eight-year, four-game deal worth $1 billion through 2024.
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