Sponsor Blackout For London 2012 Ends
Sponsors associated with sports and individuals at London 2012 have taken advantage of the end of the International Olympic Committee’s three week blackout for non-Olympic sponsors to promote their involvement in the success of Olympians, such as Team GB and triple gold medallist Usain Bolt.
Advertisments and posters have now appear trumpeting their ambassadors from brands, including Aviva, the main sponsor of UK Athletics, Volvo, a major sponsor of British sailing, and Virgin Media, a supporter of Bolt.
Virgin Media had been forced to drop an ad featuring the defending Olympic champion on the eve of the Games.
Aviva, who have been British athletics’ biggest supporter for 12 years, took out advertising in several newspapers, including The Sun and The Daily Telegraph, highlighting their support of Olympic heptathlon champion Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah, winner of the 5,000 and 10,000 metres, with the tagline “We gave our backing. They gave it their all.”
The Volvo campaign, running in the Daily Mail, Times and Guardian, draws attention to the car brand’s sponsorship of British sailors including Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie and silver medallists Saskia Clark and Hannah Mills.
The Olympic rules, particularly Rule 40, protect the 11 international companies that help to bankroll the Olympic Movement, paying around £63m each for four years of global rights to sponsor a Winter and Summer Games.
Those companies and sponsors of National Olympic Committees are exempt from rules designed to prevent ambush marketing.
