Olympic contractors face marketing ban

Companies winning work on the London 2012 Olympics, one of the UK’s biggest business opportunities for generations, are being obliged to sign a contract forbidding them from marketing their involvement in the games.

The rules bar suppliers from issuing press releases, running advertising or any marketing or public relations campaigns publicising their link to the 2012 event as well as banning them from using the Olympic logos.

The No Marketing Rights Clauses protocol, drawn up by the Olympic authorities, even seeks to specify the tone suppliers adopt in internal communications with staff about their involvement in the games, stipulating it “should be undertaken in an understated, proportionate and regular fashion”.
The 32-page guidance website bars suppliers from creating games-related job titles: “London 2012 Co-ordinator”, “2012 Unit” or “Olympic Group” are all off limits.
Inclusion of the Olympic bodies on client lists is permitted only where at least nine other clients are mentioned. Recruitment advertising must not be “Olympified” in any way, through use of imagery, logos or undue emphasis.

The £9.3bn publicly funded event is expected to generate more than £6bn of contracts for businesses, with 7,000 directly awarded contracts and a further 68,000 in the supply chain.
The protocol devised by the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and the Olympic Delivery Authority is intended to protect the rights of the event’s official sponsors, vital contributors to the £2bn which must be raised from private sources. Tier one sponsors are paying £40m plus each, tier two sponsors £20m plus and tier three £10m on average.
“The London 2012 Organising Committee will strictly enforce its legal rights over the Protected Marks and seek to prevent all unauthorised associations with the games,” warns the website. Suppliers were not paying to receive the benefits of being an “official marketing partner” of the games.
However, business organisation say they are frustrated that the strict rules are preventing them from promoting to UK businesses the potential of 2012 Olympic procurement.

“Because of the very tight restrictions on marketing we are unable to promote that procurement opportunity,” said the British Chambers of Commerce. “Our hands are being tied by the very people promoting it, the ODA and LOCOG.”

The rules mean companies cannot easily use Olympic success as a means of bidding for more work. Stephen Alambritis, of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “It’s important to allow them to shout it from the rooftops, so their reputation is enhanced. We would urge the sponsors to calm down, relax and not resort to the letter of the law.”

LOCOG said: “We are doing our absolute best to ensure a measured and balanced approach, protecting the rights of our sponsors.” Breach could result in claim for damages, compensation or an injunction, but breaches so far had been resolved without recourse to law. “It’s education, not litigation,” said LOCOG.