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Beijing Olympics to be Kodak's last as corporate sponsor

Photography icon Eastman Kodak Co said it is ending its role as a top corporate sponsor of the Olympics after next summer's games in Beijing.

The company, which is undergoing a difficult digital overhaul, cited a shift in marketing tactics for ending a relationship that dates back to the first modern games in Athens in 1896, when it ran advertisements in the scoring program.

"As we complete the transformation of Kodak, it makes sense for us to take a new direction," Kodak director of brand management Elizabeth Noonan said on Friday.

"Digital technology changes everything, including the way we market our products and services," she said.

Kodak, the world's top maker of photographic film, is one of 12 sponsors in The Olympic Program, the top tier of corporations that each spend tens of millions of dollars for rights to market the Olympic logo.

Other major global Olympic sponsors include Coca-Cola, McDonald's, General Electric and Visa.

In Beijing, Kodak will provide an imaging center for photojournalists, a diagnostic center to treat athlete injuries and Olympic identification badges for thousands of athletes, officials, journalists and volunteers at the event.

Kodak signed an eight-year agreement valued at more than US$100 million to continue as a global sponsor for the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, the 2006 Winter Games in Turin and the 2008 Summer Games.

While the Olympics are "a great way to build a global brand," Kodak spokesman David Lanzillo said, "they also lock us into promotional activities within a finite time period."

"We fully plan to reinvest those marketing dollars into other activities that more directly connect us with our customers over a much broader time period," he said.

The picture-taking pioneer is applying the finishing touches to a drastic, four-year digital makeover.

Kodak has piled up nearly US$3.2 billion in restructuring charges and accumulated US$2.1 billion in net losses over the last 11 quarters.

Its workforce will slip to approximately 34,000 at the end of this year, half what it was five years ago.
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