Nike's Latest Olympic Ad Campaign Cleverly Avoids Claims Of Ambush Marketing

Nike today posted 60-second ad on YouTube to mark the start of a new worldwide campaign called "Find Your Greatness," and the ad "takes an idea that would have run afoul of the rules and cheekily turns it on its head," according to David Segal of the N.Y. TIMES. Instead of "showing Olympic athletes in action in London, England, viewers will see unknown athletes in towns and villages called London around the world." Ambush marketing has "been around for decades, and no company has practiced this dark art with more verve and success than Nike." However, the IOC has imposed "ever more stringent rules to keep corporate crashers away from the party." No city has "drafted broader and more robust rules than" London, which "criminalized the most egregious ambush tactics and made lesser offenses punishable with fines of $30,000 or more." News that the "best of the ambushers will apparently not attempt a surreptitious assault is sure to be regarded by the organizers of the London Games as evidence that the legal battlements erected in recent years are solid." But that is not to say that Nike "will be invisible here." The company sponsors the USOC and "a number of American federations," so there will be "plenty of swooshes when the competition begins." There have been "rumors that the company will be a sponsor in 2016 in Brazil and perhaps this does not seem like the right moment to infuriate the IOC" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/25). The GUARDIAN's Mark Sweney reports Nike did not reveal the cost of the campaign, but it is "likely to cost tens of millions of pounds globally over the course" of the Games. A poster campaign is made up of "nine different ads featuring athletes, from basketball and tennis to running and skateboarding, which will run in prominent sites in London including taking over all billboards in Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus and one at Old Street" (GUARDIAN, 7/25).

I SEE LONDON, I SEE FRANCE: The GUARDIAN's Sweney notes Irish bookmaker Paddy Power is seeking a court order against LOCOG "in a bid to stop a billboard ad campaign from being taken down." LOCOG plans to have the ads "removed for breaching strict rules on ambush marketing of the event by brands that are not official sponsors." The campaign was "rolled out across the capital on Monday through a deal with outdoor advertising company JCDecaux." Ads also have "appeared in newspapers including Metro, City AM and the Evening Standard." The ads proclaim Paddy Power as the: "Official sponsor of the largest athletics event in London this year! There you go, we said it." They then go on to "reveal that it is of an egg and spoon race to be held in the French town of London" (GUARDIAN, 7/25). A Paddy Power spokesperson said of LOCOG, "It's a pity they didn't put the same energy in to the ticketing and security arrangements for the Games that they put into protecting their sponsorship revenue streams" (London TELEGRAPH, 7/25).

CREATING PUBLIC OUTRAGE: USA TODAY's Traci Watson reports the enforcement of rules protecting Olympics sponsors "has provoked a wave of public outrage, uniting both ends of the political spectrum and Olympic fans and Olympic detractors alike." London-based marketing firm Synergy CEO Tim Crow said that while rules are "necessary to protect sponsors, the enforcement has been a public relations disaster for London." Britain's rules "warn that the use of the words 'London,' 'summer' or 'gold,' along with 'Games' or '2012,' could violate the rights" of LOCOG (USA TODAY, 7/25). Former IOC Marketing Dir Michael Payne said when the ambush marketing rules are applied overzealously, "It's backlashing to the sponsors. People want to know, why are they being so suffocating and strict?" (N.Y. TIMES, 7/25). Payne predicted that the “overbearing overreach of Olympic organizers and their allies in government in order to protect what are, in effect, monopolies, could hurt the Olympic movement and come back to haunt the sponsors.” Payne said, "I have said to LOCOG and the IOC, 'I think you're scoring an own goal here.' The controls and measures have gone too far when it is starting to suffocate local street traders" (POSTMEDIA NEWS, 7/25).