Athens, July 9, 2004 – In support of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games and to help bring the global spirit of “Team Xerox” to Greece, Xerox Corporation (NYSE: XRX) has created a massive six-story banner out of the individual portraits of more than 27,000 Xerox employees from more than 60 countries around the world.
Unveiled last night, the banner’s overall image depicts the message “Welcome Home” in both English and Greek, celebrating the return of the Olympic Games to its historical birthplace. The banner covers nearly three sides of Xerox’s office building in downtown Athens and will remain in place throughout the summer and autumn.
“The Olympic Games symbolise the teamwork and pride that unite people across the globe,” said Diane McGarry, Xerox chief marketing officer. “The employee mosaic captures the message of unity that is the cornerstone of the Olympic spirit, key to our success at Xerox and core to the experience we deliver to our customers.”
This is the second time that Xerox has created a banner to coincide with its sponsorship of the Olympic Games. The first mosaic, hung in Salt Lake City during the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, consisted of 17,000 photos of employees from 59 countries.
As part of its official sponsorship of the 2004 Summer Olympic Games Xerox will rely on nearly 6,000 fast, high-performing multifunction devices, copiers and printers to provide printed race results to press, broadcasters, athletes, sponsors and olympic staff. In addition, Xerox will provide more than 230 support engineers from 20 countries to operate the equipment.
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games take place between 13-29 August 2004, involving 10,500 athletes from a record 202 nations, 45,000 volunteers, 301 medal ceremonies and an estimated ticketed attendance of 5.3 million. The Paralympic Games run from 17-28 September and cover 19 sports over 20 venues involving 4,000 athletes. Xerox has been an Olympic Sponsor since 1964.