BMW of North America, pills the Official Mobility Partner of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC), apoplectic has activated its sponsorship by unveiling its U.S. Olympic marketing campaign for the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games.

The campaign includes a series of Olympic-themed advertisements, consumer and retail activations, social and digital media executions, and a national drive campaign to benefit Team USA. In addition, a documentary on BMW’s complete redesign of the U.S. two-man bobsled entitled “Driving on Ice” will air this Sunday, Jan. 5.

“To say the bobsled has been a passion project for BMW is an understatement, and seeing this true collaborative effort captured in a documentary is remarkable,” said Trudy Hardy, Vice President, Marketing, BMW of North America. “After years of hard work, it’s very rewarding to be able to share the journey with the fans of Team USA.”

Complementing “Driving on Ice” will be a series of upcoming U.S. Olympic-themed television advertisements that illustrate the ways in which BMW unlocks the goals and dreams of consumers and athletes alike – on land and on ice. BMW’s first commercial, “Road to Sochi,” leverages biopic footage similar to that of “Driving on Ice” to bring to life the passion, tireless commitment and determination embodied by Team USA athletes and shared by BMW. Featuring Holcomb, Meyers, fellow Team USA bobsledders Curt Tomasevicz, Steve Langton and Aja Evans along with Scully, “Road to Sochi” depicts Olympic journeys that traverse the weight room, the ice track and the design studio in the pursuit of excellence. “Road to Sochi” will first air on Jan. 5 on NBC, during the telecast of “Driving on Ice.”

In addition to national television commercials, BMW’s marketing campaign in support of its Team USA sponsorship includes digital and social media executions. These extensions leverage the U.S. Olympic platform to generate audience excitement and engagement around the Sochi Games and with the BMW brand.

Beginning Jan. 17 and continuing throughout Games, BMW will promote its U.S. Olympic activation with digital advertisements appearing at NBCOlympics.com. BMW’s substantial presence at the website includes its presentation of “Golden Moments,” which highlight athlete achievements from Olympic Games past and present, as well as a series of vignettes focused to technology and the Olympic Games.

The California Golf Course Owners Association (CGCOA) has announced that the Sacramento-based association management firm Connerly & Associates, Inc. has been selected to manage the statewide trade association.

Marc Connerly, Vice President of Connerly & Associates, Inc., will serve as executive director for the CGCOA.

In making the announcement, CGCOA President Steve Plummer, CGCS, stated, “We are looking forward to moving our organization forward under Marc’s leadership and direction, and welcome the enhanced services his firm is able to provide our association. With the invaluable experience of Marc and his team, it will allow us to expand and improve member services for owners and operators statewide and provide the necessary tools to help CGCOA members grow and thrive in a rebounding economic climate.”

According to Plummer, under the umbrella of Connerly & Associates CGCOA members and sponsors can look forward to increased communication about key business resources available to owners/operators; receive benefit from a series of educational programs that will help enlighten members on ways to minimize costs and improve efficiency while also uncovering new ways to increase recreational golf opportunities within their local communities.

“I am extremely honored and excited with the opportunity to lead the California Golf Course Owners Association,” Connerly recently stated. “The CGCOA Board has done an excellent job of communicating their vision, and I share their optimism about the potential growth we will be able to forge on their behalf and that of the entire membership. We welcome the opportunity to serve all California chapter members and we look forward to working closely with the CGCOA board of directors as well as the National Golf Course Owners Association.”

Bernie Ecclestone has revealed the Nurburgring should still stage this year’s German GP as scheduled and hopes to have a deal for the race to go ahead soon.

Uncertainty surrounding the venue for the 2013 German round has existed for months with the Nurburging – which is due to take its turn hosting the event as part of its race-share agreement with Hockenheim – engulfed by financial problems since last year.

But Ecclestone has suggested he is in ongoing talks with Nurburging officials organisers and hopes the July 7 race will take place at the venue.

“It should be the Nurburgring and we are trying to make it happen,” Ecclestone told Reuters.

“I’m talking with them today.”

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has signed Sports News Television (SNTV), Perform and Reuters as distributors for the ICC World Cricket Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 event.

The deals guarantee news broadcasters around the world access to news highlights from matches, press conferences, player interviews and event-related stories providing up-to-the-minute information to more than a billion viewers.

The ICC launched the official ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka 2012 online media center on Sunday. The online resource, which is free to access and available to all media, contains a wide variety of resources including detailed team and player profiles for each of the twelve men’s and eight women’s teams.

It also provides information on each host city and venue, contact information for event staff and a list of media transport information, including a full timetable of transport on match days.{jcomments on}

Robert Kraft, the New England Patriots owner, has today suggested the NFL should have a franchise in London.

Speaking to SkySports.com Kraft said: “I personally think we should have a franchise in London and that is something I am going to push for.

“I think I said that the last time we were over here in 2009 and before this next decade is out, I hope we have a team here. I think that would be right for the NFL and this fan base has proven they deserve it.”

Kraft stressed, however, that that team won’t be the Patriots. He also said he likes the idea of the Patriots playing a game in London annually.

“We lobbied hard to come back after having such a good experience in 2009. We would love to be the permanent visiting team. It was good for team bonding and everyone really enjoyed our last trip to London,” he said, before noting the support the Patriots receive from their growing UK fan base.

The Patriots face the Rams at Wembley Stadium on Oct. 28.

NASCAR are bringing with it companies pitching everything from pizza to pharmaceuticals to a new mango-strawberry energy drink to Atlanta this week.

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More than 100 companies have marketing or sponsorship deals with Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS) in conjunction with Sunday night’s AdvoCare 500 race, according to AMS vice president of sales Greg Walter.

It’s all part of NASCAR as a marketing machine.

Many of the companies will be giving away product samples on the speedway grounds through the weekend, including title sponsor AdvoCare, which plans to hand out 150,000 samples of the latest flavor of its “Spark” energy drink in the track’s fan-zone area.

Across the way, Krispy Kreme will be offering free 12-ounce samples of its new “signature” coffees and free doughnuts Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings in the campground areas.

Among other products that will be sampled or demonstrated at display areas around the speedway: Schick razors, Papa John’s pizzas, Sprint 3D phones, General Motors 2012 cars and Hellmann’s mayonnaise.

Walter said: “It runs the gamut, We’ve even got a pharmaceutical company doing a ‘gout pit stop,’ where they explain what gout is.”

The company, Takeda Pharmaceutical, sells a drug used in gout treatment.

So why do companies find Atlanta’s NASCAR event, like others on the circuit, a major marketing occasion?

Walter cited the large, early-arriving crowds, the “festival atmosphere” and a multi-day schedule that has a truck series race on Friday night, a Nationwide series race on Saturday night and the main event, the Sprint Cup series race, on Sunday night.

“The track becomes in essence the fourth largest city in the state,” Walter said. “Imagine being able to sample a product to a whole town.”

Krispy Kreme said it chose the event as part of its new coffee launch because of NASCAR’s “family-friendly, family-oriented experience” and because fans attend from all over the country, with approximately 15,000 of the attendees camping at the track for several days.

Some companies use the race for business-to-business purposes, such as entertaining corporate clients, rather than for consumer marketing.

The event’s biggest sponsor is AdvoCare, a Texas-based direct-sales company that offers nutrition, weight-loss and sports-performance products. The company signed a three-year contract in May to succeed Emory Healthcare as the race’s title sponsor.

“I just felt, instead of buying a bunch of TV commercials for one or two nights, this would get us more value,” said Jan Wold, AdvoCare’s vice president of marketing. She said the company is “always trying to do something to build the brand, become a household name.”

“I knew the moment we talked title sponsorship and what we could do, it would be huge for AdvoCare,” she said.

In addition to having its name on the marquee and introducing its mango-strawberry flavor drink, AdvoCare will have 500 of its distributors at AMS.

Wold declined to say how much AdvoCare paid for the sponsorship, calling it “a pretty large investment” that will be increased by the added costs of marketing efforts in the fan zone.

AdvoCare is not new to sports sponsorships. It is the title sponsor of college football’s Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La., and has many sports figures, including New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees and auto-racing legend Richard Petty, among its endorsers.