Victors and spoils
胜利者与战利品
The Olympic games are big business. Who wins, and who loses?
奥运会是一大商机。谁是赢家，谁又是输家？
IN ANCIENT GREECE it was impossible to stitch a sponsor’s logo to an Olympic athlete’s singlet or shorts, because the competitors were all naked. In today’s London it is still impossible. Though clothing is now allowed at the Olympics—indeed it is compulsory—so is a veneer of amateurism. No advertisements are allowed in the stadium; no logos may be emblazoned on the athletes’ kit (except at the Paralympics: see article).
在古希腊，人们不可能把赞助商的商标缝在一位奥运运动员的背心或是短裤上，因为当时选手们都是***参赛的。在今天的伦敦，也仍然不可能。现在的奥运会允许穿衣服——实际上，必须穿衣服——但人们必须以同样的方式对业余性加以掩饰。运动场内不允许张贴广告；运动员用品上不得装饰有任何商标（残奥会是个例外，见另文）。
Behind the veneer, commercial interests are vying furiously for gold. The sums involved make Russian weightlifters look insubstantial. The British government’s budget for the games has risen to ￡9.3 billion ($14.5 billion) from an initial estimate of ￡2.4 billion. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has raised $4.87 billion in broadcast fees and sponsorship for the four-year cycle that includes the London summer games as well as the Vancouver winter Olympics of 2010. The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), which is actually in charge of staging the games, has raised another ￡700m in sponsorship; it is raking in pots more by selling tickets and licensing souvenirs.
在这种掩饰背后，商业利益为金钱展开了猛烈的争夺。其中涉及的金额无比庞大，这些钱摞起来的重量比俄罗斯举重选手的体重还要高。英国政府的奥运会预算已经从初期预估的24亿英镑上涨到了93亿英镑（合145亿美元）。国际奥委会（The International Olympic Committee, IOC）已经为包括伦敦夏季奥运会和2010年温哥华冬季奥运会在内的四年周期筹募了48.7亿美元的广播费用和赞助金。实际主管奥运会举办工作的组织——伦敦奥运会和残奥会组委会（The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, LOCOG）另外筹募了7亿英镑的赞助金；所募款项金额比门票销售及纪念品授权所得还要高。
Five rings to bind them
自有五环来束缚它们
Eleven global sponsors (known as top Olympic partners, or TOPs) pay fat sums to the IOC for the right to use the Olympic brand. Only one TOP sponsor is allowed in each commercial category: Coca-Cola for soft drinks, Panasonic for televisions and so on. This business model dates back to the 1980s. Before then, the Olympics were a commercial mess, with lots of sponsors paying small sums to borrow the Olympic brand in a few cherry-picked markets. Now, the IOC sells much bigger contracts to fewer sponsors. Top-tier deals are long-term (at least eight years) and global. The size of each deal is secret, but the total for all 11 for 2009-12 is $957m.
十一家全球赞助商（称为顶级奥运合作伙伴，即 TOP）向国际奥委会支付大笔金钱以获取奥运商标使用权。 在每一商业类别中只允许有一家 TOP 赞助商：软饮料方面是可口可乐，电视方面是松下，等等。这种商业模式可追溯到20世纪80年代。在80年代之前，奥运会的商业领域一片混乱，大批的的赞助商支付小额资金来借用奥运商标，形成了小范围的择优挑选市场①。如今，国际奥委会仅与少量赞助商合作，签订大笔合同。顶级交易具有长期性（至少八年）与全球性。每笔交易的具体数额是保密的，但2009至2012年间与所有十一家赞助商的总交易额为9.57亿美元。
Sponsors can pay in cash, in kind, or both. For example, Atos, a French consultancy, is a top-tier sponsor. It also manages the information technology for the games. In its command room overlooking London’s Docklands, 450 technicians and support staff hunch over screens. Among other things Atos handles the accreditation system for all 250,000 athletes, trainers and hangers-on. This means creating a big database for personal information for people from all parts of the world. It has to hook up with the British immigration authorities, so everyone who needs a visa gets one. And it has to be secure: visiting prime ministers don’t want their private data published on WikiLeaks.
赞助商可以通过现金支付或者通过实物支付，也可以两种手段并用。比如，法国咨询公司阿托斯（Atos）为一家顶级赞助商。它还为奥运会进行信息技术方面的管理。该公司的指挥间俯瞰伦敦港口区，其中有450名技术人员和支持人员俯身看着监视器屏幕。此外阿托斯还负责处理所有25万名运动员、教练员和陪同人员的认证系统。这意味着为来自世界各地的人们建立起庞大的个人信息数据库。该公司需要与英国移民局进行联系，为需要的人们提供签证。它还需要保证安全性：来访的各国政要可不希望自己的私人信息被公布在维基解密上②。
The pay-off for Atos comes from proving it can do all this. “It’s the only project of this magnitude that has a deadline you can’t change at all,” says Patrick Adiba, Atos’s man on the spot. There is also no room for serious errors, he says: “You can’t ask Usain Bolt to rerun the 100 metres because the technology didn’t work.” So every system has backups: some have four.
阿托斯的报偿有多少，取决于该公司完成各项任务的程度。在场的阿托斯职员 Patrick Adiba 说：“这是项重要无比的工程，你必须按期完成。”他还表示同样不允许出现严重失误：“你也不能因为技术方面出了差错而要求 Usain Bolt（一位田径运动员）再重新去跑100米。”因此每个系统都进行了备份：部分系统甚至有四份备份。
All this is costly. But it lets Atos boast to potential customers: if we can handle both the summer and winter Olympics, we can probably handle your project. The Olympics generate hundreds of millions of euros of new business for Atos every year, reckons Mr Adiba.
所有这些都代价高昂。但它也让阿托斯有了对潜在顾客吹嘘的资本：如果我们能办好夏奥会和冬奥会，我们应该也能办好贵公司的项目。Adiba 估计奥运会每年为阿托斯带来了上亿欧元的新业务。
The risk is that if you mess up, you do so very publicly. G4S, a British-based security firm, was hoping that handling security for the games (which it, too, sponsors, though not at the top level) would gild its reputation. “If we can do it for the Olympics, we can do it for you,” said Ian Horseman-Sewell, G4S’s director of events, on June 21st. Shortly afterwards, the firm discovered that it couldn’t do it for the Olympics, having failed to train anything like enough staff. G4S’s share price did a passable imitation of an Olympic diver (see article).
赞助奥运的风险在于：如果你办砸了，你就会在广大公众面前出洋相。总部位于英国的保安公司 G4S 曾希望为奥运会处理安保工作能为其增光添彩（它也对奥运进行了赞助，尽管并未跻身顶级赞助商行列）。G4S 的项目主管 Ian Horseman-Sewell 在6月21日称：“如果我们能为奥运会做安保，我们也能为你做”。不久之后，该公司发现它培训的职员不够，无法为奥运提供安保。其后 G4S 的股价如同奥运跳水运动员一样大幅下跌（见另文）。
Most top-level sponsors, such as McDonald’s, Omega, Panasonic and Procter & Gamble, are not trying to prove their prowess. They are just trying to look noble and global by association in a way that wows and woos customers. How they do so reveals the brilliance of the IOC’s stand against the “crass commercialism” of corporate ads and logos at the games. Unable to advertise inside, the sponsors must advertise outside, by way of posters and packaging and every other platform at their disposal. And to reap the benefit of their sponsorship, this advertising must be linked back to the Olympics: so every billboard and chocolate bar and television set carries the Olympic logo. It is hard to walk down a high street anywhere in the world without being reminded of the Olympics.
In effect, the sponsors are paying to provide publicity for the Olympics. This is a fantastic deal for the IOC. Is it also good for the sponsors? “I don’t know,” admits the boss of one big sponsor.
如麦当劳、欧米茄、松下和宝洁等大多数顶级赞助商并未试图去证明它们的高超商业技巧。它们只是试图以让顾客交口称赞的方式来让人联想到其高贵和全球性。它们营运的方式证明了国际奥委会在处理奥运会中的公司广告和商标时采取了光辉立场，反对“唯利是图”。由于无法在场内做广告，赞助商只有通过海报、包装以及其它可用的各种平台从场外着手。而为了收回赞助的利益，这种广告必须重新链接到奥运上来：于是每个广告牌、每块巧克力、每台电视机都打上了奥运商标。走过每一条大街，几乎都能让人联想到奥运。实际上，赞助商花钱为奥运做了宣传。这笔交易让国际奥委会大赚。赞助商也从中获利了么？一家大赞助商的老板坦承：“我不清楚。”
A study by Jonathan Jensen of Columbia College, Chicago and Anne Hsu of Relay Worldwide, a sports-marketing firm, has found that in general companies that sponsor generously tend to do well. They looked at the 51 American firms that spent more than $15m annually on sponsorship (mostly of sports) between 2005 and 2009. Net income at these firms grew faster than at S&P 500 firms in general (7.8% to 6.5% per year). The biggest sponsors did even better: the top 16, which spent on average $160m a year on sponsorship, saw net income grow by 22.1% annually.
芝加哥哥伦比亚大学（Columia College）的 Jonathan Jensen 和运动营销公司 Relay Worldwide 的 Anne Hsu 所做的研究发现，总体来说，进行慷慨赞助的公司往往业绩不错。他们调查了51家在2005到2009年间平均每年进行1500万美元以上赞助（多数用于运动行业）的美国公司。总体来说，这些公司的净收入比标准普尔500家上市公司要快（前者为7.8%，后者为6.5%）③。部分最大的赞助商业绩更佳：每年赞助额在1.6亿美元以上的前16家公司的净收入年均增长了22.1%。
The authors do not claim that sponsorship makes businesses more profitable. Rather, big sponsors tend to be firms with brands that are already well-known. Lesser-known firms buy ads to explain to customers who they are. The likes of Coke and IBM back athletes to make consumers feel warmer about their brands. There is evidence that such backing can work, at least on a team-by-team level. Jorg Henseler of Radboud University has found that in the Netherlands sponsoring football teams makes brands more valuable. And even if there is no such direct effect from sponsoring the games, there is an indirect benefit: you raise ever further the costs of entering the global market. It is spending like this that makes competing with Coke hard, even when making fizzy drinks is easy.
笔者并非是指赞助让企业盈利更多。相反，大赞助商往往都是已经拥有著名品牌的公司。知名度较低的公司通过做广告来向顾客推销自己。像可口可乐和 IBM 这种类型的公司支持运动员来让顾客更热衷于自己的品牌。有证据表明这种支持确有成效，至少在队伍层面是这样。拉德伯德大学（Radboud University）的 Jorg Henseler 发现，在荷兰，赞助足球队会让品牌升值。即使赞助奥运会没有此类直接效益，也会有一种间接效益：你抬高了进入全球市场的成本门槛。虽然现在制造碳酸饮料并不困难，但这种赞助开支让别的公司很难同可口可乐竞争。
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It is hard to argue the case for Olympic sponsorship from any effect it has on the share prices of the TOPs (see chart). But the companies must believe they are getting a good deal; otherwise they wouldn’t keep doing it, and indeed upping the ante. The IOC’s revenue from TOP sponsors rose 10.5% in the 2009-12 quadrennium. Visa ran Olympic-themed promotions in 45 countries in 2008; this year it has 71 in its sights. It is also passing on the rights to use the Olympic brand to the banks that issue its charge cards: some 950 financial institutions will join its marketing push.
抛开赞助对于 TOP 公司股价的影响（见图表），很难论证奥运赞助的事例。但必须让各公司相信它们在做一笔划算的交易；否则它们就不会继续赞助，这在实际上抬高了赞助金额。在2009至2012的四年间，国际奥委会从 TOP 赞助商处获得的资金上涨了10.5%。2008年，Visa 公司在45个国家开展了奥运主题的促销活动；今年它在71个国家进行了促销。该公司还把使用奥运商标的权利转给了发行其信用卡的银行：约有950家金融机构将加入 Visa 公司的营销推广。
Visa’s first Olympic campaign was brutal. Having displaced American Express as the official payment card, its ads crowed: “At the 1988 Winter Olympics, they will honour speed, stamina and skill—but not American Express.” Its recent Olympic ads conform more closely to the generic feel-good norm. One shows Nadia Comaneci, a gymnast, scoring a perfect 10. Morgan Freeman’s soothing voice-over encourages viewers to cheer for perfection.
Visa 公司的首次奥运活动比较蛮横无礼。当年它取代美国运通（American Express）成了官方支付卡公司，曾在广告中自鸣得意：“1988年冬奥会上，人们将向速度、耐力和技巧致敬——但不会像美国运通致敬。”Visa 公司近年来的奥运广告则较为遵守一般的好感标准。其中一条广告展现了体操运动员 Nadia Comaneci 获得满分10分的英姿。Morgan Freeman 那给人以安慰的画外音鼓励观众为这种完美欢呼。
Big boys’ games
大亨的运动会④
Because the games are truly global, they offer a plausible springboard for regional brands that want to conquer the world. Samsung is perhaps the best example. It was once a big dog only in its native South Korea. In 1997 it pipped Motorola to become a global Olympic sponsor. The American mobile-phone maker, a longtime second-tier sponsor, wanted to upgrade but demanded a big discount. The IOC was so annoyed that it turned to Samsung, which quickly agreed to pay full whack. Motorola’s managers realised they had been supplanted only when they read the headlines. Such ruthlessness keeps sponsors in line.
由于奥运会具有确实的全球性，它为想要掌控世界的地区品牌提供了一块合适的跳板。或许三星就是最好的例子。该公司曾经只在本土韩国有较大影响⑤。1997年，它以微弱优势击败了摩托罗拉，成了全球性奥运赞助商。作为长期的二线赞助商，摩托罗拉这家美国手机生产商想要跻身一线行列，但要求获得大笔折扣。于是国际奥委会在盛怒之下转向三星，后者迅速答应支付全额赞助金。摩托罗拉的管理人员在读到报纸头条时才意识到该公司被挤出了市场。这种竞争的残酷性使得各赞助商彼此通气，共享信息。
Samsung’s sponsorship covers just mobile phones. But if the Olympics burnish the Samsung brand, that should help the Samsung Group sell televisions, ships and insurance, too. It is now the second-most-valuable Asian brand (after Toyota), according to Interbrand, a consultancy. “Being seen alongside Coke gives them global credibility. It shows they are at the top table,” says Clifford Bloxham of Octagon, a consultancy. Indeed, five out of the 11 top-tier Olympic sponsors are in Interbrand’s global top 20.
三星的赞助仅仅涵盖手机方面。但如果三星的品牌被奥运会擦的锃光瓦亮，该集团电视、船只和保险的销量也会有所上升。根据咨询公司 Interbrand 的资料，三星如今已成为仅次于丰田的第二高价值亚洲品牌。咨询公司 Octagon 的 Clifford Bloxham 表示：“和可口可乐的品牌列在一起增加了三星的信誉。这表明三星也坐到了各公司的榜首位置。”的确，在十一家奥运一线赞助商里，有五家位于 Interbrand 的全球前20名之中。
Below the global sponsors are the domestic ones: some 44 companies, from BP to Cadbury, have signed deals with LOCOG that cover only Britain. As well as dealing with these domestic sponsors, LOCOG hires contractors to help stage the games. A separate body, the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA), is in charge of building the venue.
在全球赞助商下面还有国内赞助商：约有44家公司与伦敦奥组委签署了只覆盖英国本土的交易协议，包括英国石油公司（BP）和吉百利等。伦敦奥组委不但同这些国内赞助商交易，还雇佣了承包商来帮助举办赛事。一家独立机构——奥运会筹建局（the Olympic Delivery Authority, ODA）负责建造比赛场馆。
Between them, LOCOG and the ODA have awarded more than 2,000 contracts, big and small. Some firms follow the games wherever they are staged: Mondo, an Italian maker of running tracks, is there every four years. For others, it may be a one-off. Touch of Ginger, a British design firm with 12 staff, is making Olympic-themed trinkets such as stainless-steel fish-and-chip forks that pop out of a credit-card-sized piece of steel. Gary Moore, the co-founder, laments that retail sales have been slow. But corporate sales have been brisk. Sponsors such as Lloyds Bank are snapping them up to hand out as gifts.
伦敦奥组委与 ODA 之间已有2000多份大小合同生效。有些公司在每届奥运会举办时都同主办方做生意：比如 Mondo，一家意大利跑道生产商，每四年来从未缺席。对于其他公司来说，可能只进行一次性交易。一家只有12名员工的英国设计公司 Touch of Ginger 将制造奥运主题的小件物品，比如能折叠成信用卡大小的不锈钢快餐叉。联合创始人 Gary Moore 悲叹最近零售销售额不佳。但整体销售额较为喜人。莱斯银行（Lloyds Bank） 等赞助商正在进行抢购以分发礼品。 |
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