JEDDAH, 2 October 2007 — The countdown for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games has begun with competitors and sponsors gearing up for its various events.
There is already an ongoing race to pick the Kingdom’s representative who will join 1,500 Samsung torchbearers for the games. Four students from various universities are competing for the honor.
“Samsung will choose a celebrated Saudi student to deliver ‘Olympic Spirit’ as one of 1,500 of its torch bearers for Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay,” the Korean electronics giant said yesterday.
“This campaign is meant to select a Saudi student to participate in the Olympic Torch Relay as a representative of the Kingdom,” Inamullah Butt, Samsung’s marketing manager for Saudi Arabia, said in his presentation. The Olympic torch will be carried through the five continents represented by the five circles in the Olympic Games logo.
“The torchbearers reflect what is best in all of us and also Samsung’s corporate values of harmony and shared humanity. In particular, the Torch Relay in China will enhance the understanding and friendship between Samsung and the Saudi people,” Butt said.
As the ‘Presenting Partner’ of Torch Relay, Samsung has the right to select 1,500 torchbearers, use torch relay logos and hold torch-related marketing events. Samsung has been involved in the international torch relay in the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games.
Samsung struck its first deal with the IOC to become a ‘Top Partner’ in 1997 and sponsored the Nagano 1998 Olympic Winter Games. Since then, the company has become an official Top Partner of the Olympic Games in wireless telecommunications equipment, which will last till 2016.
“With the sponsorship of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay, Samsung is committed to sponsoring the longest, most extensive and most inclusive one of is kind in the history of the Olympic movement,” Butt said.
Over the past 20 years, he added, Samsung increased its brand value through sponsoring Olympic Torch relays. The electronics company has selected torchbearers for relays through 34 cities in 27 countries for the Athens 2004 Olympic Games. During the Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Olympic torches were carried by torchbearers selected by Samsung through 567 cities in Italy.
“Samsung believes that sport, and especially the Olympics, plays a unique role in unifying people regardless of age, gender or race. Sport is a way of promoting cooperation among individuals, companies and nations, and we thus believe in building a peaceful and better world by educating youth through sport, hence our Saudi initiative,” Butt said.
