DAVOS, Switzerland: Alibaba Group has forged a long-term partnership with the IOC that makes the Chinese e-commerce giant a Worldwide Olympic Partner through 2028.
The breakthrough partnership will support the IOC and the Olympic Movement achieve Olympic Agenda 2020 vision in a new digital era.
Joining The Olympic Partner (TOP) worldwide sponsorship programme, Alibaba will become the official “Cloud Services” and “E-Commerce Platform Services” Partner, as well as a founding partner of the Olympic Channel.
For Alibaba, sponsor rights will include advertising and promotional use of Olympic marks and imagery from the Olympic Games as well as marks from the National Olympic Committees.
Alibaba’s global activation rights will include the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018, the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 and the Olympic and Olympic Winter Games in 2024, 2026 and 2028 in cities yet to be selected by the IOC.
Alibaba joins 12 other companies as top Olympic sponsors. While no financial details were disclosed Reuters has previously reported that major sponsors pay about $100 million per four-year cycle, which includes one Summer and one Winter Games.
The partnership was announced Thursday at the World Economic Forum here, with IOC president Thomas Bach, Alibaba Group founder and executive chairman Jack Ma and Alibaba Group chief executive officer Daniel Zhang.
Bach commented: “In this new digital world, Alibaba is uniquely positioned to help the IOC achieve a variety of key objectives outlined in Olympic Agenda 2020, while positively shaping the future of the Olympic Movement. This is a ground-breaking, innovative alliance, and will help drive efficiencies in the organisation of the Olympic Games through 2028, whilst also supporting the global development of digital opportunities including the Olympic Channel.”
“Alibaba’s partnership with the IOC is built on a foundation of shared values and a common vision for connecting the world and enriching people’s lives,” said Jack Ma. “We are proud to support Olympic Agenda 2020, using our innovations and technologies to help evolve the Olympic Games for the digital era.”
Through this partnership, Alibaba’s contributions to the Olympic Movement will include:
best-in-class cloud computing infrastructure and cloud services to help the Olympic Games operate more efficiently, effectively and securely, including supporting big data analytics requirements;
the creation of a global e-commerce platform for Olympic stakeholders to engage and connect with fans seeking official Olympic licensed products manufactured by the Olympic parties’ official licensees, and selected sports products, on a worldwide basis; and
leveraging Alibaba’s leading digital media technologies and know-how to develop and customise the Olympic Channel for a Chinese audience.
“Alibaba is proud to empower the International Olympic Committee in a game-changing digital transformation, while moving another step closer toward our goal to serve 2 billion consumers,” said Zhang. “We will leverage our experience in serving a young user base to help connect more young people to the Olympic Movement, helping to strengthen our brand through this historic partnership.”
Tsunekazu Takeda, the IOC’s Marketing Commission chair, said: “We are delighted to be working in the long term with Alibaba for the benefit of the Olympic movement. This strategic partnership underlines the global appeal of the Olympic values and opens an exciting new chapter in this digital age.”
Alibaba is the first company to make a long-term commitment to the IOC through 2028 and the first Chinese company to commit to the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
Alibaba will support the organisers of each edition of the Olympic Games, and the Olympic movement around the world.
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