IOC appoints chief to head £62m ad budget

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has appointed former Nike marketing chief Timo Lumme to head its &£62m advertising budget as marketing director, just days before the start of the 2004 Athens Olympic games.

Lumme joins the IOC from sports television channel ESPN, where he has worked as vice-president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa since 2001. Prior to ESPN, Lumme served for three years as European marketing director for Nike and has also held several positions at sports marketing agency IMG working on the 1992 and 1994 Olympic games. Lumme replaces Michael Payne, who will leave the marketing director position after 15 years next month to head marketing and sponsorship at Formula One Management. The IOC has been searching for a replacement since April (MW April 8).

Lumme will control the IOC’s &£62m advertising account, which was awarded to Saatchi & Saatchi New York last summer (MW July 10, 2003). He will be expected to manage the IOC’s existing sponsorship structure, created by Payne, that has seen McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Panasonic, Kodak, Visa and Samsung pay up to &£30m.

It is understood the IOC has not decided if it should separate the media rights responsibilities from the marketing role into another position. NBC bought the US television rights last year for more than &£1.5bn.