Even before the Eternal Flame lands in Torino, the official sponsors are busy squeezing the most mileage they can out of their pricey sponsorship rights. But not all Olympic promos are created equal. We found two that are podium worthy.

Petro-Canada’s Snow for Gold promo puts you in charge

Petro-Canada, with help from Ottawa-based interactive agency Fuel, has set up a special URL (http://snowforthegold.ca/), where users can build their own virtual snowflakes, to be dropped into a big virtual snow globe with a message to the Canadian Olympic team of their choice. They can also e-mail their creations to friends, inviting them to participate, too. And, Petro-Points collectors will be able to donate some of their points to the Canadian Olympic Committee’s ‘Own the Podium’ amateur sports-boosting fund in exchange for access to special features to really pimp out their ‘flakes. Hard copies of the messages will be printed out in Torino, and delivered to the selected teams. The effort is being promoted through PR, viral efforts and at aol.ca.

Visa draws inspiration from budding artists

Talk about engagement. Visa’s Olympics of the Imagination (VOI) enlists kids aged nine to 13 from all over the world to participate in an ‘art challenge,’ inviting them to create flags for their favourite Olympic sports. Four regional winners from Canada are being sent to Torino, where they will blog about their Olympic experience, at www.visa.ca/voi. Visitors to the site will also be able to select art by the Canadian winners to send as e-greetings to the Canadian Olympic team. While the VOI promo is a global initiative, the e-greeting and participants blog are unique to Visa Canada. The credit card firm promoted the contest through schools across the country by sending details about the challenge along with an Olympics educational kit. Over 6,500 Canadian kids entered this year.