TransLink advertising limited to Olympic sponsors as 2010 Games near

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      Are you suffering from an overload of advertising by Olympic sponsors on the bus, SkyTrain, and practically everywhere there’s public transit?

      Many regular advertisers on Metro Vancouver’s transit system have vanished, and their spaces have been taken up by companies who paid big bucks to be associated with the 2010 Winter Games.

      TransLink spokesperson Ken Hardie told the Straight that it’s a common practice by Olympic organizers to obtain as much advertising space as possible in host cities.

      In the case of TransLink, Hardie said Vanoc purchased all the available spaces, and then turned around and resold these to Olympic advertisers.

      “It all worked into the overall contract that we have with Vanoc,” Hardie said in a phone interview, noting the deal is worth about $17 million.

      The arrangement includes the extra transit services that TransLink is putting in during the Games. It covers additional hours, staff time, and other expenses.

      Hardie maintained that TransLink isn’t losing advertising revenue with its deal with Vanoc.

      Comments

      3 Comments

      Stephan Wehner

      Jan 25, 2010 at 5:11pm

      About Ken Hardie's quote, "it’s a common practice by Olympic organizers to obtain as much advertising space as possible in host cities. " ---- but is it common practice for bus companies to sell *all their* advertising space?

      Maybe it is just a case of modern economists showing how things must be done to be hyper-efficient.

      For now it looks like "Vanoc" got revenue that would have gone to Translink; or Translink undercharged, or "Vanoc"
      underpaid.

      Stephan

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      Bruno Godin

      Jan 27, 2010 at 11:11am

      "Translink isn't losing advertising revenue" - well, of course not, ALL their space has been sold to VANOC. The question is how much is VANOC losing?

      VANOC hasn't re-sold all the spaces since official sponsors won't buy them all (and they can't sell them to anyone else). So who ends up footing the bill for all the empty ad spaces you see on the buses and in the stations?

      Since they're already paid for, why don't they put up some local art or donate the unused space to community groups.

      0 0Rating: 0

      sam walser

      Feb 22, 2010 at 9:09am

      Hi my name is Sam Walser, im 12 years and I am a proud collector of Olympic pins. My grandpa inspired me to collect pins because he went to the 1988 Olympic games and collected a whole cowboy hat full of pins. I thought living in Pemberton BC couldn’t be a better time to follow his foot prints and continue the Olympic spirit. My goal is to collect a few pins from all the supporters of the 2010 Olympics. Thank for taking your time to read my letter.

      If you would like to help keep my dream alive be send a few pins to me Sam Walser at

      P.O. Box 783, Pemberton B.C. V0N 2L0

      0 0Rating: 0