Olympic sponsorship activity

With the London Olympics less than a year away, Maxine-Laurie Marshall looks at what corporate sponsorship activity is going on around the Games

The London Olympics are edging ever closer and the official Games sponsors are well on their way with marketing activity. Consumer brands are making lots of noise but that doesn’t mean their B2B counterparts are twiddling their thumbs. So if you had exclusive Olympic 2012 marketing rights what would you be doing with them?

Olympic sponsorship activity

Deloitte and Cisco are both tier two sponsors and have taken different approaches to their sponsorships. Deloitte is the official professional services provider to the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games and has launched several campaigns to create a buzz.

Deloitte is keen to focus on internal, as well as external, activity around its sponsorship. Annabel Pritchard, London 2012 sponsorship director at Deloitte, explains that the company has put a lot of effort into exciting its people who will in turn excite its clients. Speaking about Paralympic athlete and Deloitte London 2012 Ambassador, Sarah Storey, Pritchard says, “This close-up interaction with the stars of Paralympic sport has proven a great way to engage our people with disability sport. For us, the value of the games has already been demonstrated through a major impact on recruitment and retention.”

The professional services company is hoping to translate its sponsorship into legacy benefits. Pritchard explains, “We will be able to tell our story to clients for a long time after the Games.”
It is this angle that Cisco, official network infrastructure provider of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is using as the crux of its sponsorship campaign. Ian Symes, marketing director for UK and Ireland, including Cisco’s sponsorship of London 2012, says, “A lot of brands see 2012 as the finishing post but we see it as the starting point.” Symes explains a lot of the technology put in place for the Games will stay and be used by communities after 2012. As part of this pledge Cisco set up the British Innovation Gateway (BIG). The scheme is designed to create an investment in a number of areas to bring communities together. Under the scheme, Cisco will invest $500m over five years, taking it beyond the 2012 Games.

Corporate hospitality

Like a lot of the Olympic sponsors, Cisco will be hosting corporate hospitality events for clients during the three weeks of the Games. In light of the new Bribery Act earlier this year, what precautions should marketers be taking to ensure they stay compliant? Symes reveals a lot of the sponsors went through a long process with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) to ensure they were compliant with the new Bribery Act. He says, “We are inviting customers to demonstrate what we can do; going to an event is a bonus, for us it’s about showing what a great network we are.”

Lindsay Gomer, managing director at sports hospitality company Proske Sports maintains companies will have to define what is ‘reasonable’ and stick to those boundaries. He says, “The simplest way to ensure this will be to have any offerings independently audited. A lot depends on the budgets companies have – which relates to the size of their business. What would be lavish for a small business may be modest for a multi-national.”

Official Olympic corporate hospitality packages are available for any business willing and able to spend the money, not just sponsors. Tony Barnard, marketing director at Prestige Ticketing, the official provider of corporate hospitality for the Games, says he has seen interest from a range of sectors including, financial services, legal and media. While corporate packages are available to any business, all tickets are AA; meaning the opening ceremony tickets will be over £2000. Barnard says, “We got one per cent of Olympic tickets and still have about half left, we’re happy with the results so far and expect a peak in interest in September.” He puts the lagging sales of corporate hospitality packages down to slower decision making and many businesses waiting for the budget year of the Games.

Gomer insists even small businesses can provide ‘first class hospitality on a budget.’ he comments, “With the cycling, sailing and marathon events taking place on large courses beyond the restrictions of a stadium or venue, why not simply hire a table at a restaurant with a balcony along the route of one of the events and build your offering round that?”

Sponsoring Olympic hopefuls

Business energy provider, Opus Energy got involved with the Olympics in a different way. It sponsored gymnast Daniel Keatings. Charlie Crossley Cooke, managing director at Opus Energy, said, “I specifically wanted to support a local, young, talented individual who was competing in an under-funded sport.”

Opus has integrated its sponsorship with internal, as well as external, marketing. Cooke adds, “Supporting a local athlete can also be hugely rewarding for your employees, as they see the effects of their company’s participation. Plus local sponsorship can generate valuable marketing opportunities in your community.”

Supplementing existing marketing activity, Opus launched a competition offering local gymnasts the opportunity to train with Keatings and arranged for him to appear at events – Keatings is contracted for up to two appearances a year. Cooke says, “If a sponsored athlete can produce a memorable performance at the Games, their name, image and potentially their sponsors will be thrust into the limelight.”

This may sound slightly crude but that’s the nature of sports sponsorship. The model works both for businesses and athletes alike; this hasn’t changed over the years and won’t change for the foreseeable future.

Sponsorship: The facts

The Olympic Partners (TOP) programme is the worldwide sponsorship programme and grants TOP companies with exclusive global marketing rights within a designated product or service category. Worldwide sponsors generally sign for three or four games, for this Olympic quadrennium they are: Coca-Cola, Acer, Omega, Dow, GE, McDonalds, Panasonic, P&G, Atos Origin, Visa, Samsung.

The Olympic Games Domestic Sponsorship grants marketing rights in the host country only. This is split into three tiers: London 2012 Official Olympic Partners, Olympic Supporters and Olympic Providers and Suppliers. The difference in marketing rights are minimal and are dependent on the value of the sponsorship.

The Torino and Beijing Games (2005–2008) had 12 Worldwide partners and generated $866m in revenue.
The Beijing Games saw revenue and support from its 51 domestic sponsorship partners of $1218m.

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