Lenovo Pulls Plug On Olympic Tie-up
Computer brand Lenovo, the only Chinese brand signed up to the International Olympic Committee’s TOP sponsor programme, is to end its association with the Games after the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Lenovo issued a statement confirming that the sponsorship would end next year saying: ‘The company’s marketing strategy is evolving to pinpoint opportunities that serve strategic needs in targeted geographies.’
Lenovo, which is battling Taiwan’s Acer Inc as the world’s No. 3 PC maker, signed up as a global sponsor of the Olympics in 2004 with the deal covering the 2006 Winter Games in Torino, Italy, and the upcoming Beijing Summer Games.
Lenovo is the second brand in recent months to step down from the IOC’s TOP partner programme, which covers its global sponsors, following in the footsteps of Kodak which recently announced the end of its association following Beijing 2008.
The IOC has a highly lucrative sponsorship programme – in the 2001-2004 period, covering one Winter Games and one Summer Games, the governing body received more than $4bn in revenues, a third of which came from corporate sponsors.
