Photo by Bryn Lennon/Getty Images
Pantene is pushing for female Olympics fans. At a press conference late last week, the hair care brand announced a new sponsorship for the 2012 games in London this summer.
As part of the campaign, Pantene will be backing 11 female athletes as “brand ambassadors” (the Olympians will wear, and talk about, Pantene products). The chosen Olympians include American swimmer Natalie Coughlin and British cyclist Victoria Pendleton.
Pantene also will be making a substantial TV ad buy, though according to Pantene brand franchise leader Hanneke Faber, the budgets for these two initiatives—the brand ambassadorships and the Olympics TV campaign—are separate. Faber declined to provide details about Pantene’s financial commitment. The deal comes as part of a 10-year Olympics sponsorship by Pantene’s parent company Procter & Gamble. Though P&G also refused to discuss the size of its sponsorship, in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Kantar Media estimates the company spent $22.6 million on advertising.
Pantene execs hope to expand the brand’s exposure to an Olympics viewership that tends to skew female and is uniquely global. “There isn’t a country in the world that doesn’t know the Olympics,” Faber said. “We love that association.”
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