More Olympic Acronyms Coming Soon

There's a running joke, or trend, or something (can't put finger on how the right noun) from one Olympic organizing committee (OOC) to the next.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC), U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) or other National Olympic Committees (NOCs), international federations (IFs) and even the global TOP Olympic sponsors have TMAs -- Too Many Acronyms.

According to the AP -- that's the Associated Press -- and ATR (Around The Rings), two more acronyms are signing up for five-ringed status this week: BMW and P&G.

Bayerische Motoren Werke AG was not a big surprise. After all, BMW provided hundreds of gorgeous new cars used by the NOCs staying at the Atlanta OLV (Olympic Village, where their global CEO -- chief executive officer -- presented me a sweet BMW sponsor pin).

Also, BMW's global showcase BMW Museum in Munich is nestled between the 1972 Olympic Village and Olympiapark (if you haven't seen these three sites, they are worth a round trip flight no matter where you live, and you need at least three days to see them all).

Proctor & Gamble. Well, they aren't exactly a surprise either. In Vancouver they had a broad range of engagement underway, and a lot of their product found its way onto The Colbert Report post-Games. What surprised me is their likely announcement of TOP global sponsor status so close to Dow Chemical's IOC sponsor announcement. But then, Tuesday, July 27, marks the two-years-to-London 2012 milestone, so the timing is right.

What other brands do you want to see in the OAS (Olympic Acronym Scene)?

TTYL.

Photo via this Flickr account

Dow + IOC = The Right Olympic Chemistry (?)

Early last week an invitation arrived for the International Olympic Committee press conference to announce a new TOP Olympic sponsor.

Colleagues and I placed our bets on a range of current sponsors expanding their Olympic support from domestic to global reach, but none of us bet on Dow, the massive chemical conglomerate, as the new IOC partner (even though the Associated Press apparently broke this news a month or so ago).

Dow is an interesting addition to the Olympic family. According to the company backgrounder released at Friday's press conference, Dow first got involved with the 1980 Winter Olympic Games at Lake Placid, and they've contributed on again off again at most Olympic Games since (most recently at Vancouver).

Absent from the press materials is mention of chemistry as it relates to doping in sports -- got to wonder the extent to which Dow's chemical expertise will be put to use to combat use of banned, performance-enhancing drugs through new or evolving detection methods, and how the Dow P.R. team will leverage Dow's expertise in this regard.

Overall, appears to be good chemistry.

Photo and logo via Dow