Outdoor auction fires gun on Olympic media marathon

In a first for a major outdoor location, the Abbeyrock-owned site is being sold via online media market place Media Equals ahead of the official auction process for Olympic outdoor sites which begins on the site on 4 April.  

‘The London Gateway’, located on Hogarth roundabout – on the central route from London to Heathrow and the M4 - is being offered for a 12-month period, which includes the time before, during and after the games, with a reserve price of £675,000.  

If the reserve price is not met by 6 April the auction will be opened up to all bidders.  

The sale marks the first step towards the media bonanza provided by 2012.  

The official auction of the outdoor sites alone is likely to raise in excess of £250m for the various outdoor owners with positions within the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games’ cordoned off marketing zone.  

The seven official tier one sponsors - adidas, BMW, BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB – and 11 worldwide partners will have first option to bid on the outdoor inventory, with wider sponsors being offered anything that doesn’t sell, and any subsequent remaining sites being offered to general bidders.

Though premium Olympic sites, many with six and seven-figure reserve prices, will be sold to the highest bidder, Locog has set rules for the outdoor sale – 2010 prices plus 11% - for standard sites to protect brands from escalating prices.  

Media Equals chief executive Gary Goodman said he believed this morning's sale, and the official Olympic outdoor auction, would prove something of a "tipping point" for how media was traded.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk