On Sunday 24th August the Beijing Olympics came to a spectacular end and the Olympic flag was handed over to the London 2012 team. The eyes of the world are now focusing on London as the 2012 games begin to loom large on the horizon. The commercial potential found in a city hosting an Olympic games is undoubtedly huge but taking advantage of this is a far from easy process.It is complicated by both strict legal restrictions and a market crowded with organisations clamouring to get their message heard.
The organisation of any major event is not complete without having a full legal protection programme in place. The UEFA European Championships in Austria and Switzerland saw the issuing of 300 cease and desist letters to companies breaching the tournaments marketing restrictions. Whilst in Beijing, the opening of the games saw numerous examples of ambush marketing appear despite the organisation committee’s best efforts.
It was reported that 74% of companies in Switzerland, none of which were official sponsors, intended to engage in unofficial marketing during Euro 2008. It is not difficult to imagine a similar percentage of companies in the UK planning to somehow use the 2012 games as part of a marketing campaign. With British companies joined by foreign ones this creates a very crowded media market where getting a message heard will be a tremendous challenge.
This SportBusiness Group seminar, hosted by Memery Crystal LLP, will take a look at these two key issues and help give practical advice to help avoid these pitfalls and obstacles and develop a successful strategy for achieving success in 2012.
Hosts Memery Crystal has an enviable reputation as a commercial legal practice. It is held in high regard for the quality of its commercially-focused and partner-led service, and prides itself on the strength of its client relationships and the pro-active approach of its lawyers. It has 22 partners and over 60 lawyers. It sets itself apart from competition by having a very experienced and pragmatic team with complex matters being handled at partner level. Its main practice areas include intellectual property, digital media, capital raising, M&A, commercial agreements, real estate, dispute resolution and employment. The firm is a founding member of the ILN, an association of nearly 100 high-quality full-service law firms with over 5,000 lawyers worldwide.
In 1998, Cunning was born of a great idea in a small garage in Primrose Hill... we’ve grown up a bit since then and now have lovely offices in London and in New York. We are a privately owned and independent, solution neutral, creative agency. In other words, we do what’s right rather than what’s expected. Working with brands such as Nissan, Esprit, and ITV to name a few, we specialize in creating and implementing brand experiences for our clients and agency partners, resulting in bespoke brand activations that regularly achieve £millions of media coverage here in the UK and around the globe. In addition to our longer-term strategic work, we are also recognized for our stunt marketing successes; the 1999 Gail Porter projection onto the Houses of Parliament for FHM to promote their 100 Sexiest Women issue was voted the Stunt of the Century by the BBC… Cunning ideas get brands talked about.
