Bid City Pins
The competition starts well before the Olympic Games with the selection of a city among several candidates. To promote itself, each city usually releases one or more pins with its bid logo. For the Olympic Winter Games of 1992, 7 cities were candidates: Albertville (France), Anchorage (Alaska USA), Berchtesgaden (Germany), Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy), Falun (Sweden), Lillehammer (Norway), and Sofia (Bulgaria).Official Pins
These are manufactured under licence by the manufacturers appointed by the organizing Olympic Committee and use the Official Logo in various variations of color and designs, the Official Mascot, the Olympic Venues, or the pictograms of each sport. These pins, mainly intended for the sale to the general public, are easy to get and are of little value in to the eyes of collectors. They can be different years of release for the same pin. For the Albertville Olympics, the different years of production are easily identifiable by the backstamps: "©" 01/89 to 04/90, "© COJO 1990" 05/90 to 12/90, "© COJO 1991" 01/91 to 12/91 and "© COJO 1992" 01/92 to the end of 92. (Source: Stadium, Official Licensee for Albertville Olympic Pins).Sponsor Pins
This category of pins is produced for the sponsors who take part in the financing of the Olympic Games. For Albertville, the list of the sponsors having had the right to use the official logo and the mascot on various supports is the following one:Sponsors TOP
Coke, Kodak, Philips, Brother, 3M, Mars, Panasonic, Bausch & Lomb, Visa, Time-Sports Illustrated, Ricoh, U.S. Postal Service.Sponsors Coubertin Club
AGF, SNCF, Evian, Alcatel, Renault, Candia-Yoplait, Credit Lyonnais, IBM, France Telecom, La Poste, Thomson.Official Suppliers
Air France, Arjo Wiggins, Andersen Consulting, Bose, Le Bois Avance, Elis, France Equipement, Gaspard, Generale Sucriere-Eurosucre, Gestetner, Jean Lefebvre, Kanterbrau tourtel, K-Way, Lyonnaise des eaux-Dumez, M2S, Merlin Gerin, Michelin, Mondial Assistance, polymedias, Securipost, Sonacotra, Stadium/Starpin's Paris, TMG, Vicat, Vinco.Obtaining these pins is possible in various ways:
- Those of large distribution can either be sold by the companies in their outlets (Renault, La Poste...) or distributed to those making the request (Credit Lyonnais, Le Bois Avance), or given during promotions or contest (Kodak, Candia...).
- Those with very limited distribution are generally intended to honour the company's best customers or to reward their personnel.