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panasonic, toyota and bridgestone have announced their withdrawal from the olympic sponsor team

original production of "phoenix stand" on phoenix.com

author|zhou chao

on october 1, the japanese tire company bridgestone officially announced that it would not renew its "global partner" contract with the international olympic committee. the agreement between the two parties will expire at the end of december this year.

this is the third japanese company to give up its top sponsorship spot in the olympics after panasonic holdings announced on september 10 this year that it would not renew its contract with ioc; toyota announced its full withdrawal from the olympics on september 26.

coupled with the fact that the fifa world cup does not even have a japanese continental sponsor, japanese capital seems to be completely withdrawing from the international sports competition sponsorship system.

at the paris olympics, the international olympic committee had 15 top sponsors (coca-cola/mengniu are one category), and a total of 4 contracts expired this year. except for france's atos, which has not expressed its position, the non-renewal of contracts by three japanese companies has obviously cast a shadow on the business development of the international olympic committee.

what happened behind all this?

1. reasons for japanese companies

every company has internal reasons why it is unwilling to spend money on publicity.

the reasons given by panasonic holdings when announcing its withdrawal were:changes in business formats and the weakening publicity effect of olympic sponsorship.

in 1987, panasonic became the top sponsor of the international olympic committee for the first time, and the two parties have cooperated for 37 years.

at the 1988 seoul (seoul) olympics, panasonic's sponsor name was still panasonic electric, and the main direction of its promotion was still japan, china, and southeast asia.

when the contract was renewed in the second half of the 1990s, the sponsor's name changed to national, focusing on international home appliances.

starting from the 2008 beijing olympics, panasonic has been uniformly used, and the name has changed to panasonic holdings. the categories for global partners of the olympic games have become: audio/tv/video equipment.

for the 2008 beijing olympics, panasonic's name was changed to panasonic holdings

however, at present, japan's household appliances, whether it is tv sets or white goods, are being beaten by china and south korea.

according to the "global tv brand shipment monthly data report" released by avc revo, global television (tv) shipments in 2023 will be 195.5m (million units), with samsung ranking first in shipments, followed by hisense, tcl, and lg and xiaomi.

the home appliance industry no longer occupies a mainstream position in panasonic holdings. panasonic holdings currently mainly relies on sales of automotive electronics, internet and other businesses to increase revenue.

from producing products for ordinary people to becoming a supplier of parts, components and services, panasonic's desire to use the olympics to enhance the awareness of its products among the general public is no longer as strong as before.

toyota motor originally decided not to renew its global partnership agreement with the international olympic committee, but would continue to sponsor the paralympic games and retain the right to use the paralympic logo and five rings. but on september 26, toyota chairman akio toyoda made the decision to withdraw completely.

japanese media quoted him as saying,toyota believes that the olympics are overly politicized and do not use the huge funds given by sponsors to athletes. therefore, it was a disagreement in philosophy that led to the withdrawal.

toyota’s “black technology” at the tokyo olympics

in its official statement, bridgestone did not mention why it was abandoning its sponsorship of the olympics, but said: "we will continue to believe in the power of sport" and "we will focus on sustainable global racing."

in other words, bridgestone gave up the olympic games as a global platform for brand promotion, and instead returned to its own car industry.

shrink the front line and go for precise delivery.

in this regard, international olympic committee spokesman adams said: "we respect the decisions made by each company based on their own business strategies."

2. what do japanese media think?

on october 3, the sankei shimbun defended the withdrawal of domestic companies from the olympics with the title "wise judgment or a symbol of the setting sun? will china, japan's olympic sponsor, take over the vacancy left?"

the sankei shimbun stated that the withdrawal of sponsorship by three japanese companies is, on the surface, due to the weakening of the japanese economy and the decline in nominal gdp to fourth in the world, lagging behind the united states, china and germany. but some experts also believethe olympics themselves have changed and are no longer attractive.

harada munehiko, president of osaka sports university, said that in the past, companies would worry that losing a good publicity platform might lead to the market being taken away by competitors. but now companies no longer have such worries.“we are no longer in an era where the olympics are the only event that showcases the power of brands to the world.”

the commercialization of the olympic games started in los angeles in 1984. four years later, los angeles will host a new olympic games again. harada said, "it failed to stop the war. it was part of the propaganda. sponsorship will only stay where there is real benefit. i think the business of the olympic aristocracy is ending."

in addition, sponsorship is not just about spending money. it also needs to be coordinated with strong offline, online and tv advertising. the money given to the international olympic committee only buys a logo, which also leads to the cost-effectiveness. doubts.

toyota doesn’t want to be the “big grievance” anymore

toyota officials said they would pay 130 billion yen over 10 years. in addition, vehicles and other items were provided in kind.

"the same sponsor, if it is coca-cola, has exclusive rights to sell merchandise at the stadium, so it can get profit returns at the stadium. but the stadium cannot sell tires and cars.

3. where do new sources of wealth come from?

among the 15 international olympic committee global partners of the paris olympic games. 4.5 companies are from the united states, namely airbnb, coca-cola (mengniu), intel, procter & gamble and mastercard.

1.5 companies are from china, including alibaba and mengniu (coca-cola)

the three companies are japan's panasonic holdings, toyota motor corporation and bridgestone.

the other six companies are germany's allianz, france's atos, switzerland's omega, britain's deloitte, south korea's samsung electronics and belgium's anheuser-busch inbev.

you can see that the sponsors of the olympics are changing.

in the past, it was fast-moving consumer goods such as coca-cola and household products such as procter & gamble, but now the number of internet-related companies is increasing and has become a new source of revenue for the olympic games.

however, the rise of the internet has also made advertising modes more diverse.

more companies are focusing on using the internet to accurately target consumer groups. this has led to the olympic games' status as a global brand promotion platform declining.

in 2017, mcdonald’s said goodbye to the olympics

in 2017, mcdonald's, which had cooperated with the olympic games for 41 years, withdrew as a sponsor. too expensive and a mismatch in marketing were cited as one of the reasons why old sponsors gave up.

the business developers of the international olympic committee do need new profit-making points.

however, the current gambling industry that is willing to spend huge sums of money on international sports sponsorship is obviously not in line with the values ​​and concepts of the international olympic committee.

compared with fifa, the international olympic committee still lacks categories such as sports brands and airlines among its partners.

the sankei shimbun, which has always been known for advocating the theory of china's collapse, quoted an unknown person at the end of the article and analyzed it in a skeptical tone:"although chinese companies stepped in to save fifa when western sponsors withdrew, relevant sources said that china's economic situation is not enough to provide sponsorship amounts like japan's (such)."

in any case, as a major manufacturing country, china has a higher demand than japanese companies to expand its global reputation.

with the right business format and amount, it is absolutely possible for more chinese companies to join the olympic games and become global partners in the future. after all, this scene has happened before in the world cup, which is more influential than the olympics. for example, china's hisense has already replaced japanese and korean brands such as sony and lg as the only home appliance cooperative brand of the fifa world cup.

made in china at the qatar world cup

therefore, based on this reasoning, chinese home appliance brands may replace panasonic holdings; and emerging automobile companies in china and india may fill the gap left by toyota.

according to a nielsen data report, the biggest growth point of global sports sponsorship is e-sports. obviously, the international olympic committee is also exploring the possibility of e-sports entering the olympic games. this may be another new expansion space for chinese companies.

in addition, tapping into the financial resources of the middle east in the future, like fifa, is a direction that the new leadership team of the international olympic committee needs to pay attention to in 2025. at least qatar and saudi arabia will be a bonanza for the ioc.