Fast facts
- Name: International Olympic Committee (IOC)
- Type: Sports federation
- Headquarters location: Lausanne, Switzerland
- Founding date: June 23, 1894
- Key people: Thomas Bach (President) and Jacques Rogge (Honorary President). A total of 103 active members, 45 honorary members, and 2 honor members.
- Key stakeholders: Athletes and companies of The Olympic Partner Programme
- Revenue: $5.7 billion from 2013 to 2016
- Symbol designer: Baron Pierre de Coubertin (founder)
Branding strategies
The IOC has a set of vision and missions they are loyal to. According to them, they value excellence, respect and friendship. The IOC is also on a mission to ensure uniqueness, promote sport and prioritize the athletes in the Olympic Movement. All of this and more, is to reach their vision of “Building a better world through sport”.
The Olympic Games has had participants from over 200 nations and showcases around 30 sports, easily beating organizations such as FIFA World Cup and Tour de France. The Games are “the number one sports marketing platform”, and the IOC constantly strengthens and promotes their brand, even when there are no Olympic Games going on.
With it being one of the biggest sports events, the IOC has achieved strong brand identity and image. A name and minimalistic symbol that everyone knows. Recently, they have also made changes to their marketing strategy. While they have been relying on third parties, lately there has been more content created by the IOC to address the people more directly and personally.
Lastly, the IOC creates brand campaigns that connect them with the target audience. An example of this is the “Become The Light” campaign in 2017, where the objective was to promote the three Olympic values.
Brand establishment and opportunities
The IOC believes that through sport, changes can be made in society. “Sport can build bridges with a universal language”, and that’s how every time at Olympic Games, athletes from all over the world and an audience from all over the world come together with a mutual interest for sports. From the first modern era Games of 14 nations, to over 200 in present time is a big leap in bringing us together. This has created a large population to remain faithful to every upcoming event by the IOC.
Although winning in viewership, the World Cup comes quite close to the Olympic Games. To get higher viewership, the IOC should add missing sports such as darts and squash. This way, more people can feel included and that also builds a more powerful brand image.
On another note, the IOC organizes events through private funding (as it’s a non-profit organization) and therefore must secure good relationships with their partners in order to continue marketing activities and to keep the Games going.
Conclusion
As a brand, the IOC has done exceptionally well when it comes to growing their recognition and reputation. While carrying out their missions and values, they create events that people from all over the world can look forward to. To maintain or even improve the quality of the brand, topics such as viewership and relationships with partners should be taken into account, as well as constantly proving their loyalty towards said commitments.
