Company Profile 
SportsMark has been diligently preparing for the fast approaching Olympic Games in Vancouver by hiring and training senior and local staff. Working with six Olympic sponsor clients, SportsMark’s team of nearly 300 staff will help manage the Olympic experience for more than 2,600 clients and guests over the course of the Games.
SportsMark’s local staff is an invaluable resource for all of our client programs and are vital to our shared successes over the years. Serving as the ambassadors of the Olympic host city, the recruitment and hiring process for local staff traditionally begins over a year prior to Opening Ceremonies. For the Vancouver Games, SportsMark has worked with the British Columbia Institute of Technology’s Marketing Management Department (BCIT) to create a unique and mutually beneficial student experience. The Marketing Management Program at BCIT has one of the largest faculties of marketing in Canada. Students chosen for this highly competitive program represent the top tier of emerging talent in their area of study, hence, SportsMark’s commitment to add value to their academic pursuits.
“Our approach is to not only select and train students for our on-site staffing needs, but to also understand what the students hope to gain from the experience, so that we can help them with their professional experience and leave a lasting legacy in Vancouver,” commented Sari Shapiro, Senior Vice President, Olympic Operations.
Throughout the year leading up to the Games, the Olympic journey involves multiple training sessions, which highlight general Olympic operations and detailed information about each client program; homework activities that reinforce key topics; and engagement via quarterly newsletters that give students insight into the field of Olympic marketing and event management.
SportsMark’s Olympic sponsor clients for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games include Visa, Omega, Bell Canada, Sun Microsystems, Vincor Canada, Weston Bakeries.