AMBUSH MARKETING
individual athletes—who could be disqualified— came into effect from July 18 to August 15.
“Tere was a TV campaign by Subway before the sanctions window featuring various athletes talking about their ‘personal best’ Subway sandwich. Tat advertising was obviously associated with those athletes and then with the athlete’s sport, but it didn’t go any further and draw a more obvious association with the Olympics as a whole,” says Smith.
“It would have been difficult for Locog to pursue action against Subway if the campaign had continued aſter the blackout period kicked in. But they did stop running those ads because otherwise the athletes would have faced sanctions from the International Olympic Committee (IOC).”
Not all brands played by the rules during the blackout period. Beats Electronics (founded by US rapper Dr Dre) distributed its Beats by Dre headphones to numerous athletes, including British diver Tom Daley and Chinese swimmer Sun Yang. Adding to Locog’s worries, some athletes began tweeting to express their happiness at receiving the desirable headphones. “Te tweets were later removed and I think they probably told the athletes to remove the headphones. But it’s a good example of how something can slip through,” says Smith.
Te controversial Rule 40 has angered individual athletes, in particular Sanya Richards-Ross, who won gold in the 400 metres in London. Te rule prevents athletes who are sponsored by unofficial partners from earning what they see as their rightful rewards. Following what appeared to be a coordinated protest on Twitter against Rule 40, using the hashtags #Rule 40 and #wedemandchange, Richards-Ross told a press conference that the rule was out of date. She said athletes should be compensated for their time in London, because so many of her peers “struggle in the sport”.
While these protests were more of a sideshow to the ambush marketing circus, they reinforced how airtight the rules have been.
“I think Locog achieved what it wanted,” adds
Smith, who says non-sponsors also managed to find a way of advertising around feelings of patriotism, using the Union Flag and linking to generic sport and feelings of celebration. “For example, Marks & Spencer used ‘On your Marks for a summer to remember’—it was all about English summer parties and nodded at fun sport. You think of the Jubilee, the Euro 2012 football and other sports, but it wasn’t likely to expose them to action from the regulators.”
In preparation for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil and the 2018 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the authorities may wish to draw lessons from London. “Te first lesson is that you must start educating people early and make it clear what the rules are. Te success of Locog’s brand protection strategy was heavily dependent on that activity,” says Artinian.
“Te approach to infringement does not have to be formal or heavy-handed: you can work collaboratively.”
He notes that in the build-up to these future showpiece events, social media will present a continuing and evolving challenge for organisers. “It’s an area that might need a more flexible approach as to what is, and what isn’t, allowed.”
A combination of clear guidance and monitoring sites such as Twitter helped Locog to beat the ambushers on social media. Tere were also reports, which Artinian cannot confirm, that Twitter agreed to block non-sponsors from buying advertising on the site during the Games. But it is clear that both on the social media and on many other platforms, ambush marketers have, in general, failed to outwit Locog. Brazil should take note, if it hasn’t already.
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26
World Intellectual Property Review September/October 2012
www.worldipreview.com
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