CBC column on the tattered torch run and corporate sponsors

Due to a scheduling snafu at the Business Network, my column got delayed a week, and just ran this morning. You can listen to it here, but here's the script.

"I'm pretty certain that Baron de Coubertin is doing triple somersaults in the pike position in his grave.

The leadup to the 2008 Olympics has been like no other. When Canada hosted the Calgary Olympics in 1988, thousands of Canadians carried the torch and it was a big unity-booster.

This time, the torch run has been dominated by controversy as pro-Tibet protesters have done everything in their power to disrupt the procession. From fire extinguishers to giant signs on the Golden Gate Bridge, what was supposed to be a triumph has turned into a branding catastrophe for the Chinese government.

My interest, however, is more in the potential effects of this on Olympic sponsors.

For a movement that's supposed to be building a better and peaceful world through sport, the Olympics is big business, and corporations pony up nearly half a billion dollars each year to be part of it.

And I would wager that some of those corporations have been wondering just what is going to happen to their investment in what has become a VERY controversial event.

It's likely that a corporation like Coca-Cola, which has been involved with the Olympics for 80 years, won't break its ties. But it's found itself under pressure, as have other sponsors.

This is likely the highest-level version of a dilemma that all businesses likely face from time to time.

Businesses are pitched all sorts of sponsorships all the time, and have to make complicated decisions. What's the investment? What's the potential return? What are the dangers? How much non-financial investment - time, products, services - will your business have to bring to the table?

If there's a lesson to be learned from the Beijing torch run, or in the phrase Mia Farrow coined, the "Genocide Olympics", it's that businesses need to do some serious due diligence before making any significant sponsorship deal.

Like most things that will have some impact on a corporation's public image, sponsorships or partnerships need to be looked at VERY seriously, with extravagant attention paid to worst-case scenarios.

In one of my jobs, I used to tell my boss that I got paid for thinking of the worst thing that could happen. If you're in business, you need someone to do that. You just might keep your image from getting torched."

Ciao,
Bob.