OSAKA — Panasonic Holdings will not renew its contract as the main sponsor of the Olympic Games, ending a 37-year relationship as the Japanese electronics group's strategy shifts away from televisions.
Panasonic and the International Olympic Committee have agreed that the company's The Olympic Partner (TOP) contract will expire at the end of December.
“Through our TOP sponsorship activities, we have gained many valuable experiences and deepened our relationships with sports fans and athletes around the world,” Panasonic Group CEO Yuki Kusumi said in a statement on Tuesday.
IOC President Thomas Bach said: “IOC understands and fully respects that the Panasonic Group needs to adapt its business strategy.”
Kusumi announced plans to invest heavily in the business-to-business segment. It has positioned electric vehicle batteries and systems as areas of development to streamline manufacturing and logistics supply chains.
Panasonic's Olympic sponsorship helped the company promote innovation in TV technology. © Reuters
Panasonic aims to increase battery sales to 3 trillion yen ($21 billion), up from 915.9 billion yen in the previous fiscal year, which ended in March.
Meanwhile, Panasonic's TV operation, which includes TV cameras, totaled 243.1 billion yen, or about 3% of group sales of 8.49 trillion yen, in the last fiscal year.
The Olympic sponsor contract was originally intended to advertise the company's products to consumers around the world. In the late 2000s, the TV segment generated approximately ¥1 trillion in revenue. Now the synergistic effect from sponsorship has weakened.
“Since the 1980s, when the company was a title sponsor, television technology has advanced rapidly at every Olympics, including full high definition and 4K,” a Panasonic source said. “The Olympics became a space for innovation in television.”
In the 2000s, Panasonic introduced the Viera plasma TV, marketed to sports enthusiasts. The company has often supplied the Olympic Games with broadcast cameras and equipment, as well as giant projectors used in the opening ceremony.
But advances in TV technology have slowed by the 2020s. Perceptions of the Olympics have become more personalized among consumers, leading to a reevaluation of the value the event brings to promoting the brand and technological capabilities.
Major Olympic sponsors include household names such as Coca-Cola and Procter & Gamble. Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone is also a sponsor. Toyota Motor is ending its Olympic sponsorship this year, but is set to remain a sponsor of the Paralympic Games.