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The Olympics Don't Take American Express (The Ultimate Guide to Salesmanship)
Book

The Olympics Don't Take American Express (The Ultimate Guide to Salesmanship)

The Birth of Megasports Sponsorships

Rob Prazmark, 2023 more...


Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Overview
  • Concrete Examples
  • Insider's Take

Recommendation

A former ad salesman for the ABC television network, Rob Prazmark became the first marketer to recruit corporate underwriters for the Global Olympics Programme, starting with the 1988 Winter Games. The original sponsors paid many millions of dollars for exclusive rights to use the Games to promote their products and services. This turning point fortified the Games financially. For the first time, the International Olympic Committee also allowed commercial use of the five-ringed Olympic logo. The 1988 Winter Olympics marked the birth of today’s massive sports sponsorships, leaving Prazmark with a continuing and justified sense of pride since such sponsorships make large-scale athletic competitions financially possible.

Take-Aways

  • Rob Prazmark sold commercial time for NBC and the ABC network before joining a sports marketing firm.
  • In 1988, Prazmark’s firm garnered millions selling Olympic marketing rights to Coca-Cola, Visa, and other Winter Game sponsors.
  • A campaign to support a Smithsonian traveling exhibit raised nearly $50 million for a nine-city tour.

About the Author

Rob Prazmark spent 40 years in multimillion-dollar marketing and dealmaking, recording $3.8 billion of revenue for the properties he represented. He is writing a sequel to this book, Innovators, Imitators and Idiots, which picks up in 2010 and goes through 2024, covering the Sochi and Rio Olympic Games, America’s Cup, Special Olympics International, and America250, the national celebration of America’s 250th anniversary.