• by Karl Greenberg , April 21, 2008

As part of its sponsorship of the Olympic Games this year, AT&T is running an online and mobile campaign that dangles a high-end trip to Beijing to meet U.S. athletes sponsored by AT&T and to see the games.

The effort, "How Are You Connected?," was developed with Omnicom agency The Marketing Arm. The Dallas-based agency handles entertainment, sports, and experiential/event marketing and consulting for AT&T. The work includes property negotiations, talent, strategy and activations.

The campaign, which runs through May, offers eight consumers a trip for two to the Beijing games. Eight grand-prize winners and their guests will receive complimentary airfare, five-star accommodations, tickets to marquee Olympic events and meet-and-greets with Team USA.

Consumers can register for the chance to win at att.com. Wireless customers of AT&T also may enter by sending the text message "TeamUSA to 2008" from their AT&T wireless devices.

Participants can earn one bonus entry at att.com by submitting an essay, uploading a photo or video with a short description about how they are connected to AT&T-sponsored Team USA hopefuls or completing a questionnaire to determine how they are connected to the U.S. Olympic Team.

ATT is announcing one grand-prize winner weekly for eight weeks starting last week. Other prizes awarded include Nintendo Wii game consoles with "Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games" video game, Team USA branded athletic gear, and autographed photos of U.S. Olympic athletes.

The company is doing athletic-themed marketing around the Olympics--including a Web site, attblueroom.com, which offers "AT&T Tips and Training" that provides sport-specific training tips from AT&T-sponsored U.S. Olympic athletes. Gold-medal gymnast Mary Lou Retton, swimming hopeful Michael Phelps and Karate competitor Steven Lopez (and his brother and sister) are among AT&T-sponsored athletes. "AT&T Tips and Training content is also on AT&T's video-on-demand U-verse TV, and wireless devices.

AT&T is also the official telecom of the U.S. Olympic Team in Beijing, and the company is an official partner of USA Track & Field, USA Gymnastics, USA Swimming and USA Diving.

This year, AT&T has added swimming and added Retton to its list of sponsored athletes. AT&T's YellowPages.com will also launch a similar promotion this week, offering consumers trips to the games in Beijing as a grand prize, per a source. AT&T could not be reached for comment by press time.