John
Furlong, the organizer-in-chief of the Vancouver Olympics,
wrapped himself in the flag the other day....what Furlong
was really doing was engaging in what has become an Olympic
tradition every bit as familiar as the torch relay: the tenacious
defence of the most lucrative marketing turf in global sports.
The object of his ire was a new campaign by Imperial Oil for
its Esso gasoline stations called Cheer on Canada. The promotion
offers customers a chance to win a trip to Turin, Italy, the
home of the Winter Olympics next year, to watch Canada's men's
and women's hockey teams in action. The wording makes no mention
of the Olympics or any of its trademarked symbols, but still
drew Furlong's wrath for obvious reasons. Imperial is a long-time
sponsor of Hockey Canada, which gives it the right to use
the familiar maple leaf logo of the national teams; but it
is not an Olympic sponsor. That honour in the petroleum category
belongs to rival Petro-Canada, which is paying more than $60-million
to the Vancouver organizing committee for exclusive Canadian
rights through the next four Games.
"They obviously believe that they have
to put the stake in the ground now or what will happen, they
believe, is that more and more sponsors will not go to them,"
said Bob Stellick, a Toronto-based sports-marketing consultant.
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