The power of personality is alive and well for Winter Olympics marketers.

Brands are putting their prestige and cash behind top gold medal contenders, such as snowboarder Shaun White and skier Lindsey Vonn, even as some major television sponsors, including General Motors and Johnson & Johnson, opt out of the Games, which get under way today in Vancouver. NBC, which has the TV rights, has projected a $200 million loss—a combination of soft advertising and the $820 million rights fee it paid.

Decisions on how to spend marketing and ad dollars are influenced by a range of factors, including a brand’s image and goals as well as social media and other technology-driven alternatives that compete for consumers with shorter attention spans and fewer dollars.

“It’s a no-brainer,” Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys Inc., said of sponsoring a top athlete. “You want to be associated with a winner, and if [an athlete] specifically reinforces your brand’s values, that’s a good thing.” And most important, consumers “think better of you.”

Passikoff said some corporate sponsors are exploring different options for their marketing because many 18-to-34-year-olds, the sweet spot for advertisers, are not being “engaged” by conventional television commercials.

“[Companies] just don’t see a correlation to sales,” he said.

At the same time, marketing consultant Jack Trout, president of Trout and Partners, said social-media sites are “still a work in progress,” and Facebook and Twitter “don’t lend themselves to storytelling.”

Citing Nike Inc.’s long association with Michael Jordan, Trout said: “You have to connect with your prospective [consumer]. They have to say that if an athlete they admire is using a particular product, ‘I want to be like them.’”

The Olympics are a venue for drama and national pride and entice athletic and other brands because it meshes with their DNA, Passikoff said.

That’s the case with Polo Ralph Lauren Corp., which Passikoff said is a good fit for the U.S. Olympic team because of its identification with Americana.

Polo designed the uniforms for U.S. athletes for the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as a collection of apparel and accessories for them to wear in the Olympic Village.

Outfitting the team presents challenges. David Lauren, senior vice president of advertising, marketing, and corporate communications for Polo, said working with hundreds of athletes ranging from waiflike figure skaters to beefy skiers is “quite an undertaking.” It also represents something more.

“It’s in keeping with our company philosophy—that’s why we did it,” he said. “We’ve been proud to use the flag on our products for over 40 years.”

Polo started working with the U.S. Olympic Committee in 2008, when it outfitted the team for the opening and closing ceremonies at the Summer Games in Beijing. The opening drew one of the largest worldwide audiences in history.

“It was an historic event, and we were front and center,” Lauren said. This prompted the company to extend its association through 2012.

Olympic-themed merchandise such as down jackets, sweaters, shirts, fleece pants, and caps is being sold at all Polo Ralph Lauren stores, on Polo.com, and in select retailers such as Macy’s. The company has been promoting its association with the Olympics in print advertising, as well as dedicating store windows to the merchandise and sending out direct-mail pieces and email blasts. Its website is running videos and interviews with the athletes, offering historical images of the Games and a link to purchase product.

Lauren said Olympic-related merchandise has been “incredibly popular with customers,” while stressing that selling jackets or sweaters is not Polo’s primary motivation.

Omega, which has been the official timekeeper of the Olympics since 1932, might be the most visible brand at the Winter Games.

“That’s what people are staring at each and every event,” Passikoff said.

The company has created the Vancouver 2010 watch, which retails for $3,800. Only 2,010 were produced.

“Although we make limited-edition models around the Olympic Games which are always successful, our prime objective is to use the Games to position the brand as the leader in timekeeping technology and as a platform to present Omega on the world stage,” Omega president Stephen Urquhart said.

That international platform is also key for companies that sponsor gold medal contenders such as White, Vonn, and skier Bode Miller.

Snowboarder White, 23, nicknamed “The Flying Tomato” because of his shoulder-length flame-red hair, may be the best-known athlete in the Games. He won gold in the men’s half-pipe at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, and recently captured top honors at the X Games. He has built a multimillion-dollar action-sports brand that includes the Shaun White 4 Target young men’s collection, along with the White Collection of outerwear by snowboard manufacturer Burton.