The Japanese company was caught because of the Olympics

In 1964, the world watched the Tokyo Olympics via the world’s first satellite broadcast via a giant antenna developed by the NEC. In Tokyo Olympics starting this July, the NEC will roll out new technology.

The company’s face recognition system will be installed in stadiums to identify athletes and staff, as the government has promised that the Games will be “safe and secure” despite the Covid-19 pandemic.

But it is likely that the NEC or the Olympic sponsorships of the technology used in the Games will have little promotion this summer, linked to vehicles self-driving by Toyota or safety robots developed by Secom.

As one sponsor strictly acknowledged, silence is the best marketing strategy for navigating a toxic environment that may be related to the event. detrimental to the corporate brand.

Another CEO silenced a comment he made to the FT a few months ago saying he loved the sport and wanted to get ahead of the Olympics, saying it would be inappropriate to comment in any other context in the face of public opposition. Games.

Another sign of how dangerous the current situation is is that the NEC unexpectedly caused a scandal, showing how much the Olympics have increased their commitment to the Japanese government and companies.

From Friday Takuya Hirai, country digital minister, Has been the talk of Japanese TV shows filtered recording Obtained by the Asahi newspaper. There he is heard urging his subordinates to use “threats” against the NEC president. One comment from the April online conference is particularly noteworthy: “If they murmur too much about these Olympics, we’ll completely ignore them.”

At the center of the incident is a $ 66 million contract that appears to have nothing to do with sponsorship of the Olympics. The government and a consortium including the NEC have signed on to develop a smartphone app to track the health of foreign audiences and other gaming-related employees. . With the decision to ban foreign audiences, the government has called for the cancellation of its contract with the NEC.

Hirai has since admitted that his comments were inappropriate, but has denied being made directly against the NEC. He also defended the use of his language as a reflection of his “firm determination” to reduce costs. The NEC has declined to confirm that it has accepted the change in the contract.

The incident has been nothing more than a ministry gaffe, but the NEC and collectively paid more than $ 3 billion for the games to protect 46 other Japanese companies are asking serious questions about whether joining the Olympics is worth their money.

There will be games most protected a sporting event in history, but even before it was delayed as a result of the pandemic, some executives privately expressed doubts about the returns on their investment.

Although the decision to participate in what was initially considered a national project seemed low risk, the companies accepted non-exclusive contracts, creating direct situations in which both direct rivals such as Japanese Airlines and ANA Holdings were sponsors.

When the Games were held in Tokyo in 1964, there were still no official and exclusive corporate sponsorships, and it seemed almost natural for the companies involved in post-war Japan to show a resurgence of failure. But the patriotic spirit itself will not be enough to justify protections this year.

There is no doubt that people’s sentiment may change as the Games ’vaccine program increases as the speed increases, and companies could also expect – albeit belatedly – to reap the marketing benefits they had hoped for.

But even if they manage to navigate safely in these games, there is another mine ahead of them for world-class Olympics sponsors like Toyota and Panasonic. The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics are just around the corner and companies are likely to do the same subjected to activist pressure China’s stance on human rights violations in Xinjiang.

It has been too long since Japanese companies considered the sport to be something that should be protected, but greater sophistication will be required as the sponsorship of the Olympics becomes more political and contentious.

kana.inagaki@ft.com