NEW YORK - (Business Wire) Visa, a Worldwide Olympic Partner for more than two decades, today introduced its team of athletes for the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games at the Visa Olympic Media Summit in New York City. During the event, Visa and its family of athletes extended their ongoing commitment to the Partnership for Play Every Day
– an effort to raise national awareness and support for increasing and improving the spaces where America
’s youth can play. Visa also unveiled its integrated marketing campaign in support of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
“For America’s kids, the time to play is today,” said Olympic and World Champion swimmer Michael Phelps. “We need everyone’s help in providing all kids with access to safe and well-equipped spaces where they can exercise, have fun and maybe even pursue their own Olympic dreams.”
The Partnership for Play Every Day is bringing together organizations including nonprofits, businesses and government agencies to ensure that all children get at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day. Federal funding for local parks, playgrounds, trails and open spaces has decreased in recent years, and one of the partnership’s objectives is to increase the number of settings where kids can engage in physical activity.
“As a longtime Olympic sponsor, we’re committed to empowering current and future Olympic team hopefuls to reach for and achieve their dreams,” said Michael Lynch, head of global sponsorship marketing, Visa Inc. “We believe in the Play Every Day call to action and saw an opportunity to involve our Olympic family in an initiative that addresses a growing health issue and will get more kids participating in Olympic sports.”
Visa’s Olympic ambassadors today presented a donation to New York City Parks and Recreation to purchase equipment and improve the quality of instruction for youth programs. This marks the third jump-start grant presented to the partnership since the call to action launched at the one-year countdown to the Beijing Olympic Games in August 2007. Previous recipients were Washington, D.C., and San Francisco.
America’s Olympic Team Partner
Since 1986, Visa has contributed more than $14 million to U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Team hopefuls. Visa empowers its athletes to achieve their dreams by providing financial support, life skills training and valuable marketing exposure in pursuit of their Olympic goals.
Visa’s Gold Medal Athletes for the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games are Michael Phelps and Katie Hoff (swimming), Paul Hamm and Nastia Liukin (gymnastics), Allyson Felix, Dwight Phillips and Bryan Clay (track and field), Kerri Walsh and Mike Lambert (beach volleyball), Bubba Harris (BMX Supercross), Steven Lopez (taekwondo) and Aly Wagner (soccer); as well as Paralympic champions Marlon Shirley and Cheri Blauwet (track and field), and Erin Popovich (swimming). Collectively, the group has won 39 Olympic and Paralympic medals.
“Visa has a history of raising awareness for breakthrough sports and breakthrough athletes,” Lynch said. “Over the years, through our athlete support, national television advertising and marketing communications, we’ve promoted women’s pole vault, women’s beach volleyball, snowboardcross and women’s ice hockey and helped America’s athletes go on to fulfill their Olympic dreams.”
In April 2007, Visa partnered with Phelps and Hoff on the Visa Friendship Lanes tour of China. This cultural exchange helped grow the sport of swimming globally and included local school appearances, Special Olympics clinics and visits with Visa Olympic staff in Beijing and Shanghai.
Visa is a proud sponsor of the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) and several National Governing Bodies, including USA Track & Field (USATF), USA Gymnastics (USAG), USA Swimming, U.S. Soccer and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. Visa is a proud sponsor of the Visa Championship Series, the elite series of indoor and outdoor USATF events; the Visa Championships, USAG’s national championships; and the 2008 USA Swimming Olympic Trials. Visa is also a worldwide sponsor of the Paralympic movement and has been instrumental in helping gain domestic television coverage and drawing attention to the inspirational stories of America’s Paralympic athletes.
Integrated Marketing Programs
As a TOP Olympic sponsor, Visa has created a comprehensive integrated marketing campaign in support of the Olympic Games that includes national advertising and promotions, bank and merchant marketing, and public relations.
Visa continues to provide issuing banks and merchant partners with Olympic-themed creative and marketing materials to enhance their card-marketing efforts. For the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, more than 225 issuing U.S. banks and 300 merchant partners have participated in Visa Olympic marketing programs, producing more than 48 million pieces of marketing collateral (POS, signage and direct mail).
Visa’s national promotion (“The Fastest Way to Beijing”) allows Visa issuers and merchants to benefit from the company’s sponsorship of the Beijing Olympic Games by providing their cardholders and customers with a unique opportunity to experience the world’s No. 1 sporting event. When a cardholder uses his or her Visa card from February 1 through April 30, 2008, he or she will be entered automatically for a chance to win a Grand Prize trip for two to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Ten First Prize winners can catch all of the Olympic Games action on a Panasonic High Definition Blu-ray Theater. No purchase or obligation is necessary to enter or win. See Official Rules at www.visa.com/2008olympics for details on non-purchase entries.
Visa remains the only card that enables consumers to get into the Olympic Games at venues in Beijing and at select Olympic Trials in the United States. This extends to the purchase of Olympic merchandise online, in Olympic retail stores and by catalog. Thousands of Visa-branded ATMs have been installed in and around Beijing, including many at Olympic venues.
About Visa
Visa operates the world's largest retail electronic payments network providing processing services and payment product platforms. This includes consumer credit, debit, prepaid and commercial payments, which are offered under the Visa, Visa Electron, Interlink and PLUS brands. Visa enjoys unsurpassed acceptance around the world and Visa/PLUS is one of the world's largest global ATM networks, offering cash access in local currency in more than 170 countries. For more information, visit www.corporate.visa.com.
About the Partnership for Play Every Day
In a voluntary and collaborative initiative of unprecedented scope, the National Recreation and Park Association, the YMCA of the USA, and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education are working together as conveners of The Partnership for Play Every Day to increase the spaces and quality of play for our country’s children and youth. These organizations have a proud legacy of providing physical education, physical activity, childcare, after school programs and youth sports to millions of children throughout the country. The challenge today is to reach all our kids, especially those who aren’t afforded these same opportunities. Through this dynamic collaboration with more than 30 of the nation’s leading non-profits, government agencies, academic organizations and corporations, we can create and sustain the momentum for a national movement to ensure that all kids get 60 minutes of physical activity every day. www.playeveryday.org
Media Contacts:
| For interviews, information on Visa's comprehensive Olympic marketing efforts or samples of Visa's Olympic-related art, please contact: |
| |
| Michael Rolnick | | J.J. Carter |
| Visa Corporate Relations | | Fleishman-Hillard Communications |
| Office: (415) 932-2384 | | Office: (415) 318-4161 |
| mrolnick@visa.com | | jj.carter@fleishman.com |
Visa Corporate Relations
Michael Rolnick, 415-932-2384
mrolnick@visa.com
or
Fleishman-Hillard Communications
J.J. Carter, 415-318-4161
jj.carter@fleishman.com
