Sponsors win big in Beijing

by Ed Kemp, Marketing 19-Aug-08, 08:45

LONDON - Games sponsors have successfully circumvented security restrictions to exploit deals. Brands had hoped for up to 200,000 daily visitors to the Olympic Green but numbers have been limited due to organisers' security fears.

Unperturbed, London's 2012 organisers are entertaining prospective sponsors elsewhere in Beijing. 'Visa is providing a drop-in centre away from the media glare, to allow athletes to meet acquaintances', said Graham Fleet, managing director of IMG Olympic Consulting.

'Like a number of other sponsors, Visa has created owned venues and experiences that sit outside of some of the officially accredited zones like the Olympic Green', he added.

'In Beijing, sponsors are spending heavily, said Charles Jefferson, IMG Olympic Consulting. Every bus, bus shelter, outdoor site and subway billboard is associated with an Olympic sponsor'.

Athletes are not allowed to personally endorse brands during the Games, but some have managed to leverage associations, according to experts. 'Team GB diver Tom Daley has been plugging B&Q and Visa on the front page of China Morning Post', said Matt Rogan, commercial director of Lane4.

Meanwhile, former Olympic champion Carl Lewis, who has been working for McDonald's, suggested during an interview that athletes should steer clear of drugs and try eating French fries instead.

Data file: Beijing

Advertisers have spent $1.5bn (£750m) around this year's Olympics, of which $1bn (£500m) was online, according to Lehman Bros.
1bn viewers tuned in for the opening ceremony. The BBC estimates the UK audience at 5m.
The Games are being con-tes-ted by 10,700 athletes from 205 countries. As Marketing went to press Team GB was in third place in the medals table behind China and the US.