Olympics

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 (“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 “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 challenge for Lynne Cribari, Manager of Corporate participation for the USOC, was to gain a level of trust from potential corporate sponsors by applying a persuasive message (O’Rourke, 2010).
An effective persuasive message consists of these factors: “it