The American Olympic Association Essay -- Sports, Training, Olympic Ga

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC), initially named the American Olympic Association, was formed in 1896. Members of the committee sought to provide assistance to United States Olympic athletes with training and other needs. As the USOC is not government funded the committee has relied heavily on corporate funding and private donations (â€Å"Team USA,† 2011). However, over the years while the continued appeal of the Olympic Games remained, the increased cost of housing, clothing, and caring for U.S. athletes along with other professional sports vying for corporate sponsorship, made obtaining funding difficult. Thus, the USOC was challenged with persuading corporate benefactors that investing in the Olympic Games was a lucrative and cost effective venture (O’Rourke, 2010). Therefore, the methods used by the USOC to persuade companies to invest as well as motivating factors underlying corporate sponsorship are explored. Case Analysis Persuasion Message The ability to communicate effectively is essential in business (O’Rourke, 2010). In order to provide information, convey a message, and explain an idea, communication tools must be applied daily (N, 2005). The most important communication tool is the persuasive (N, 2005). This is due to the fact that whatever is being conveyed at the workplace requires a degree of persuasion (N, 2005). Hence, persuasion is the ability to move an individual or group into action. Boyer and Stoddard (2011), describe persuasion as â€Å"the act of getting a sentient being other than yourself to adopt a particular belief or pursue a particular action (p. 1). Therefore, in order for persuasion to be effective a level of trust between the parties must exist (O’Rourke, 2010). Thus, the challen... ... their association with the Olympic movement and develop interventions including updated marketing and promotional strategies to correct the problem. Moreover, an exclusivity right for some corporate sponsors has caused corporations without this type of contract to feel second rate which creates the possibility for ambush marketing to surface (Palomba, 2010). Ambush marketing is a company’s attempt to associate itself directly or indirectly with an event, team, or celebrity without being granted proper permission or pay the necessary licensing fees. As a result, official sponsors may not receive the full benefit or commercial value of paying to be legitimate sponsors (Palomba, 2010). Therefore, the USOC needs to protect legitimate sponsors by enacting or enforcing protective legislation to curtail or eradicate ambush marketing tactics (Palomba, 2010).