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Description
Even before the sounds of celebrations from Trafalgar Square to Singapore had died down grumblings of discontent could be heard amongst those businesses looking to take advantage of London's successful bid for the 2012 Olympics. Businesses can become official sponsors of the world's largest sporting event either through a deal with the London Organising Committee or through the International Olympic Committee's Olympic Partner Program. Official sponsors are entitled, to the exclusion of their competitors, to use the Olympic logos. Yet official sponsors have historically had little recourse against those who wish to associate themselves with the event by other means, so-called ambush marketing. The Olympic Bill aims to deal with this problem, but has it gone too far?
The Olympics are big business: in the period after the Sydney Olympics to the Athens Games in 2004, corporate sponsorship totalled $1,300m and this is hardly surprising when one discovers that there was a television audience of 3.9bn people for the Athens Games alone. Even with the multi-tiered options provided by the Olympic Partner Programme there can only ever be a limited number of official sponsors, far out numbering those organisations seeking to be involved.
In the circumstances it is hardly surprising that businesses have used unorthodox means to share in the benefits of the Olympic Games. Certain unofficial marketing... |
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