Panasonic Launches Olympics Promo Tour

By Greg Tarr -- TWICE, 4/29/2008

Secaucus, N.J. — Panasonic is getting a jump on the Beijing Olympic Games by launching a nationwide promotional campaign using four tractor trailer trucks that will tour leading retail partners to give consumers a glimpse of the latest Panasonic Viera plasma and LCD TVs and a chance to meet past Olympic heroes.

Panasonic, which is an official worldwide sponsor of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games, launched the truck tour and corresponding consumer sweepstakes today. The tour hits CE retail partner across the country at the 100-day mark in advance of the games.

The promotional campaign features a fleet of four custom-built trucks, including a 53-foot flagship vehicle. The trucks were formerly used for Panasonic’s “Living In High Definition Tour,” but have been re-branded and redesigned to play up the company’s new Olympic theme: “Get Your Family Ready For The First HD Olympics.”

The tour will visit retailers around the country and feature autograph signings at select stops by past U.S. Olympic stars, including nine-time Olympic gold-medalist swimmer Mark Spitz and Olympic gold-medalist gymnast Kerri Strug. Visitors will also receive limited edition Panasonic Olympic pins and have the chance to play Mario and Sonic at Olympic Games and compete for prizes, including Panasonic Viera HDTV’s.

Panasonic is playing up the fact that the 2008 television coverage of the games will mark the first time the event is to be broadcast entirely in high-definition. Panasonic Viera series plasma and LCD HDTV’s are also the official HDTVs of the Olympic Games.

Visitors to the Panasonic trucks will be able to enter the “Get Your Family Ready” sweepstakes, which runs through the end of the games in August. The sweepstakes features a range of prizes including Panasonic Viera HDTV’s, Blu-ray Disc Players and a Grand Prize trip for four to the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic games and a Panasonic Viera HDTV and Blu-ray Disc home theater system.

Panasonic said it will supply the most digital electrical technologies to the games to date to televise and present the games in high-def. Panasonic, as the official HD sponsor, is working in cooperation with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), and the Beijing Olympic Broadcasting Company.

Panasonic will be providing digital broadcast-related equipment including the Panasonic P2 HD series, based on solid-state P2 memory recording, as well as studio-use Digital VCRs, system cameras and TV monitors to the International Broadcasting Center (IBC) and other broadcasters for Beijing 2008.

This year marks the 8th Olympiad for which Panasonic has provided equipment in the official recording format for the games.