Catch Olympic fever! .... or not

I'm almost as burned out on the Olympics as General Motors is, and, hey, the Games in Beijing are still a year off. But somewhat seriously folks, you gotta applaud GM for getting beyond the prestige of being a big-time Olympic sponsor and realizing that it's no longer worth it. True, GM is in cost-cutting mode, seemingly forever, but going forward, it's going to be difficult for any advertiser to justify paying what GM did for its rights as a sponsor of both the NBC broadcast of the Games and an additional sponsorship with the U.S. Olympic Committee. By Ad Age's analysis, the multi-year deal was valued at $900 million. Media fragmentation is such that it's hard to view the Games, no pun intended, as the must-see TV it once was. In fact, one could argue that the ROI for an advertiser would be much better sponsoring individual events according to what viewers they attract rather than getting involved with these blanket deals. On that note, if you go to amazingawaits.org, the Web site for the 2008 games sponsored by U.S. Olympic Committee, you can see a new video montage, which I believed was created by mcgarrybowen, with the theme, "Amazing Awaits." If you want to get going on your 2008 Olympic hype early, it's the place to be. If not, I'll tell you it's nicely shot, paced, and produced but otherwise is so much inspirational wallpaper. Sorry to be so grouchy. Guess I need another cup of java.