In a few short weeks, the Beijing Olympic Games will be history. As the last spectator files out of the Chinese capital’s Bird’s Nest stadium on 24 August, the eyes of the world will turn to London, and 2012. For marketers, the planning has already begun in earnest. Brands that have already signed up as sponsors for London 2012 include BP, BT, British Airways and Lloyds TSB. As they prepare over the next four years, the question arises as to what they can learn from Beijing.
Perhaps the trend that has really set this summer’s Olympics apart is the battle between sponsors and marketers keen to capitalise on the Games without paying for official endorsements. For all the obvious differences between the UK and China, this will be an equally significant issue affecting the marketing strategies surrounding London 2012. At Beijing, the rights of sponsors have been policed in a way never witnessed before .
This has been particularly evident in the outdoor sector, with brands employing classic ambush marketing strategies by buying up billboards around the Games. To counter this, the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) introduced the priority allocation of prominent surrounding sites to official sponsors between July and September. In an attempt to gain greater control over the fragmented outdoor scene, it also removed hundreds of billboards and invalidated advertising contracts signed last year, insisting that brands buy bundled packages at capped rates. In the lead-up to the Games, rumours circulated that ads from non-sponsors would be taken down.
Moreover, in an unprecedented move, the China Advertising Association recently banned non-sponsors of the Games from running ads featuring Olympic athletes. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), eager to protect the value of its lucrative sponsorships, has been behind much of this clampdown activity. However, it has not prevented some blatant attempts at ambush marketing. Local sportswear brand Li-Ning - whose slogan ‘Anything is possible’ is strikingly similar to Adidas’ ‘Impossible is nothing’ — even tried to have broadcasters on Chinese state TV wear its branded clothing while on air, before BOCOG intervened.
“Guerrilla marketing has been huge this year, more than in past Olympics,” says Shaun Rein, chief executive of China Market Research (CMR) Group. “Even companies in unrelated industries are using sports imagery in their ads. As a result, it is harder and harder for official sponsors to stand out above the din.”
That view is shared by Alexandra Oikonomidou, director of Ogilvy PR Worldwide and previously a member of the Athens 2004 organising committee. “During this Games, guerrilla activity has taken a whole new role and is more aggressive than anything I have seen at previous Games. Nevertheless, BOCOG has also become more sophisticated at handling this.”
London should be a less chaotic market — outdoor operators have already begun offering billboards on long-term contracts — but marketers should expect similarly strict enforcement of sponsors’ rights. “The protection of the Olympic intellectual property rights has become a serious responsibility for the organising committee; non-Olympic sponsors are very limited in what they can do during the Games,” says Oikonomidou.
Perhaps the trend that has really set this summer’s Olympics apart is the battle between sponsors and marketers keen to capitalise on the Games without paying for official endorsements. For all the obvious differences between the UK and China, this will be an equally significant issue affecting the marketing strategies surrounding London 2012. At Beijing, the rights of sponsors have been policed in a way never witnessed before .
This has been particularly evident in the outdoor sector, with brands employing classic ambush marketing strategies by buying up billboards around the Games. To counter this, the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) introduced the priority allocation of prominent surrounding sites to official sponsors between July and September. In an attempt to gain greater control over the fragmented outdoor scene, it also removed hundreds of billboards and invalidated advertising contracts signed last year, insisting that brands buy bundled packages at capped rates. In the lead-up to the Games, rumours circulated that ads from non-sponsors would be taken down.
Moreover, in an unprecedented move, the China Advertising Association recently banned non-sponsors of the Games from running ads featuring Olympic athletes. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), eager to protect the value of its lucrative sponsorships, has been behind much of this clampdown activity. However, it has not prevented some blatant attempts at ambush marketing. Local sportswear brand Li-Ning - whose slogan ‘Anything is possible’ is strikingly similar to Adidas’ ‘Impossible is nothing’ — even tried to have broadcasters on Chinese state TV wear its branded clothing while on air, before BOCOG intervened.
“Guerrilla marketing has been huge this year, more than in past Olympics,” says Shaun Rein, chief executive of China Market Research (CMR) Group. “Even companies in unrelated industries are using sports imagery in their ads. As a result, it is harder and harder for official sponsors to stand out above the din.”
That view is shared by Alexandra Oikonomidou, director of Ogilvy PR Worldwide and previously a member of the Athens 2004 organising committee. “During this Games, guerrilla activity has taken a whole new role and is more aggressive than anything I have seen at previous Games. Nevertheless, BOCOG has also become more sophisticated at handling this.”
London should be a less chaotic market — outdoor operators have already begun offering billboards on long-term contracts — but marketers should expect similarly strict enforcement of sponsors’ rights. “The protection of the Olympic intellectual property rights has become a serious responsibility for the organising committee; non-Olympic sponsors are very limited in what they can do during the Games,” says Oikonomidou.
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