Citigroup Olympics Marketing Focuses Sports Charities

With public esteem for big banks riding low in opinion surveys, Citigroup is weaving cause-marketing into its Olympics sponsorship with commercials and a website promoting sports-related organizations, according to The New York Times.

Along with television advertisements featuring former U.S. Winter Olympics and Paralympics athletes airing during the Sochi games, the campaign includes a site where visitors can vote on divvying up $500,000 the Citigroup has pledged to nine sports charities with which current and former Olympians are involved.

“Olympics sponsors need to bring something of value to sponsorships rather than just sticking rings on their advertising,” said Michael Wood, executive vice president for New York ad firm Publicis Kaplan Thaler, an arm of Publicis Worldwide, the creative agency for the Citigroup campaign.