The ICMG – the International Committee for the Mediterranean Games – recently held a marketing seminar in Athens, Greece, with participants from Cyprus, Malta, Morocco, Libya, Albania, Slovenia, Syria, Lebanon, San Marino and of course, Greece.

The seminar was held at the offices of the Hellenic Olympic Committee and Malta was represented by Ms Marie Therese Zammit, Director of the Maltese Olympic Committee. Speakers included Damian Pintar, consultant on marketing to the IOC and Marketing Director of the Slovenian Olympic Committee; Elizabeth Allaman from the marketing company of the IOC and Yannis Psarellis, representing the International Olympic Academy.

Participants discussed strategies of how to increase the marketing potential of their Olympic brand in order to enhance the possibility for more financial advantage and independence.

Different concepts adopted in different countries were compared and contrasted, and initiatives by the marketing division of the IOC were also explained to further aid the National Olympic Committees of the Mediterranean area to have a more professional marketing strategy.

The problem of brands competing for the IOC sponsors was amply discussed since distributors of these brands in the participating countries were often reluctant to sponsor NOCs’ initiatives, leaving NOCs a limited number of alternative choices and barring competitive brands that would have been interested.

The concept of ambush marketing was also an important topic, specific guidelines for which would be issued by the IOC.

It was emphasised in this seminar that consumers in this day and age can be affected by how a company acts in relation to its corporate social responsibility.

Consumers are becoming more and more conscious of how a company contributes to society and this is reflected in the way they purchase products and services.

Those companies which can show that they not only take from their customers, in terms of profits, but give back to the community through specific schemes or sponsorship will find that apart from having positive brand equities will also develop customer loyalty.

Social corporate responsibility is all about enhancing how people feel about a firm or product. Sport has long offered companies the opportunity to appear as “good corporate citizens” playing a role in the community through the sponsorship of teams and children’s sporting programmes. By being involved, companies are helping to make a difference, in other words, who cares wins!

So what are the benefits of using sport as a marketing platform? Sport sponsorship is an integral part of the marketing mix for a company. A more physically active population means less strain on the health care and criminal justice systems, as well as on social services. Through sport, you can be seen as giving back to the communities that contribute to your success through an infinite variety of sponsorship opportunities.

Sport has a number of positive characteristics through which a number of Olympic values can be reflected in one’s personal/business life: peace, fair play, determination, sportsmanship, achievement, friendship. Such values can be associated with brand equity and/or a company’s mission statement/values.

Sport has the ability to evoke consumer’s emotions; associated and tied to specific brands it can help transfer such emotions through brand equity. Yet it will only be effective if sponsors leverage their investments to form an integrated marketing communication approach, thus maximising sponsorship investments.

Social responsibility and citizen pride through sport are areas which can enhance how people feel about your firm/product.

Athletes are role models giving both parents and youngsters a message that through sports one can achieve direction and a sense of responsibility; it acts as a deterrent against drugs and anti-social behaviour, as it directs energies to positive outlays.

Consequently, helping to reduce crime and generate better health awareness results in not smoking, not abusing drugs and eating healthily. In the long run, sports contributes to a healthy society.

The specific objectives of using sport in marketing brands can vary enormously and examples include: increasing sales, developing customer loyalty, growing brand awareness, developing new markets, internal communications/motivation, improving staff recruitment, developing business-to-business relationships, launching new products, broadening the customer base, developing community relationships, broadening distribution, developing product knowledge, reassuring the financial community, good citizenship, development of post-merger identity and changing/revitalising brand image.

It was concluded that the boundaries of sports marketing are endless; sport offers a myriad of opportunities to utilise the public interest to market products, combined with cause-related pro-active strategies with genuine and well-directed community support.

If local companies realise the social responsibility and corporate citizenship benefits of being involved in sports, they will be helping the general community and by doing so, they will also be contributing and championing a good cause: helping the sports sector to strengthen their profile and creating a healthy society that has a strong sports culture.

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APS Bank Youth Handball Festival on Saturday at University Hall in Tal-Qroqq

The Malta Handball Association is once again organising a Youth Handball Festival sponsored by APS Bank for children aged between 12 and 14 on Saturday 13 January at the University Hall, Tal-Qroqq. The festival will start at 2pm.

As part of its four-year development plan, the MHA is committed to organise periodic festivals for the younger age categories.

The idea behind festivals is for children to enjoy the game of handball without the need for harsh competition. Boys and girls coming from different handball backgrounds meet at the hall and are divided randomly into mixed teams.

A variety of activities are organised. These include the popular shoot-out competition promoted by the EHF Youth Development Programme and handball games emphasising participation and enjoyment rather than competition.

This festival gives the opportunity to those who have never played handball or who have only experienced it at school level to experience the game in all its integrity in a friendly and safe atmosphere. Referees, coaches and players are invited to be present on court to assist the MHA in this venture.

Participation is free of charge. Local handball clubs as well as all secondary schools are encouraged to promote the festival among their youths. Those interested in participating shall meet at the University Hall at 2pm. For further queries do not hesitate to contact Clyde Borg Conti on 9986-1970 or John Falzon on 9985-9000.

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MIA Olympic Special – What’s On

On Thursday on TVM at 5pm, Friday on E22 at 9pm (RPT), Sunday on E22 at 10am (RPT) and Monday on E22 at 2.30pm (RPT), the programme will feature the following:

GSSE section – athletics

The Games of the Small States of Europe will be taking place from 4-9 June 2007 in Monaco. Maltese athletes have competed at these games since the Cyprus Games back in 1989 winning Malta’s first medal in the 10,000m where Gerald Degaetano won Bronze.

Athletics has been represented in all the 11 editions of these games winning at total of nine gold, 28 silver and 31 bronze medals.

The Maltese athletics team for Monaco 2007 will surely be a strong team with athletes such as Darren Gilford, Rachid Chouhal, Nikolai Portelli, Diane Borg, Therese Mallia, Charlene Attard and many more aspiring to qualify and represent Malta at these games.

Athletes will participate in all the different track and field events including sprints, long distance and throws. Find out more about the preparations for the Maltese athletics team in this feature.

Featured event

The Maltese Olympic committee hosted a Media Breakfast meeting to announce its plans and objectives for 2007. Find out what the MOC’s plans will be in this feature with short comments from MOC officials and media persons who were present.

MOC director

Mr Justice Lino Farrugia Sacco is the Maltese Olympic Committee’s President; he has been at the helm since 1997 and has formed part of the Maltese Olympic Committee for 20 years.

Find out in this interview with the MOC President how 2006 was for the MOC and the plans and objectives for 2007; being the year of the Games of the Small States of Europe Monaco and the year before the Beijing Olympic Games.

Highlight events

This week’s highlights will focus on the Women’s Rugby Ben Bennett Women’s Sevens Tri-Championship 2006/07 league game held on Saturday 6 January, a Juniors vs Veterans Match organised by the Malta Chess Federation last Sunday and the much awaited B’kara vs Milan friendly football match organised by the B’Kara Football Club.

Schedule available every week on www.nocmalta.org and on The Malta Independent newspaper every Tuesday.

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Olympic Charter excerpts

Mission and Role of the IOC*

The mission of the IOC is to promote Olympism throughout the world and to lead the Olympic Movement. The IOC’s role is:

• to encourage and support the promotion of ethics in sport as well as education of youth through sport and to dedicate its efforts to ensuring that, in sport, the spirit of fair play prevails and violence is banned;

• to encourage and support the organisation, development and coordination of sport and sports competitions;

• to ensure the regular celebration of the Olympic Games;

• to cooperate with the competent public or private organisations and authorities in the endeavour to place sport at the service of humanity and thereby to promote peace;

• to take action in order to strengthen the unity and to protect the independence of the Olympic Movement;

• to act against any form of discrimination affecting the Olympic Movement;

• to encourage and support the promotion of women in sport at all levels and in all structures with a view to implementing the principle of equality of men and women;

• to lead the fight against doping in sport;

• to encourage and support measures protecting the health of athletes;

• to oppose any political or commercial abuse of sport and athletes;

• to encourage and support the efforts of sports organisations and public authorities to provide for the social and professional future of athletes;

• to encourage and support the development of sport for all;

• to encourage and support a responsible concern for environmental issues, to promote sustainable development in sport and to require that the Olympic Games are held accordingly;

• to promote a positive legacy from the Olympic Games to the host cities and host countries;

• to encourage and support initiatives blending sport with culture and education;

• to encourage and support the activities of the International Olympic Academy (“IOA”) and other institutions which dedicate themselves to Olympic education.

Bye-Law to Rule 2

The IOC Executive Board may grant IOC patronage, upon such terms and conditions as it may consider appropriate, to international multisports competitions – regional, continental or worldwide – on condition that they take place in compliance with the Olympic Charter and are organised under the control of NOCs or associations recognised by the IOC, with the assistance of the IFs concerned and in conformity with their technical rules.

The IOC Executive Board may grant IOC patronage to other events, provided such events are in-keeping with the goal of the Olympic Movement.