As attractive as it may be, marketing during the Olympics is no small feat; sponsors and partners face many challenges and obstacles on their quest for commercial gold. Many rules and regulations crowd potential marketers; if a company wishes to be visible on the international stage of the Games, it must abide by domestic laws and IOC regulations. Each city and, accordingly, country that hosts the games in a particular year has control over what happens on their soil. Any international organization operating within their territory for the Games must follow the same laws and regulations that native organizations do. Certain countries, like China in the 2008 Beijing Games, have extensive guidelines for marketers encroaching on their soil, controlling
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Rules like this were established to ensure protection against “ambush marketers” or “marketing strategy wherein the advertisers associate themselves with, and therefore capitalize on, a particular event without paying any sponsorship …show more content…
(5) Competitors to sponsor brands have found new loopholes that allow them to capitalize on the global event, compromising the exclusivity of the product category the sponsor was promised. Olympic rules also do not apply to fans/viewers who may utilize social media to form brand connections otherwise deemed out of line with Olympic regulation, creating a sort of “social ambush”. (5) Further, the cultural and language barriers of not only the host country but also the potential target markets can inhibit and even deter sponsors from entering the “Commercial Games”. It is important for sponsors to make the appropriate political and social connections to ease entry very early on in the marketing process. The Olympics is about the world organizing for the purpose of the sporting games, and respecting cultural values is a huge part of that. (4) Together, the IOC and host city/country must establish, enact, and enforce regulations and laws surrounding the commercial activity of the Olympics so to not encroach on Olympic values and “to control and limit the commercialization of the Olympic Games”
Rules like this were established to ensure protection against “ambush marketers” or “marketing strategy wherein the advertisers associate themselves with, and therefore capitalize on, a particular event without paying any sponsorship …show more content…
(5) Competitors to sponsor brands have found new loopholes that allow them to capitalize on the global event, compromising the exclusivity of the product category the sponsor was promised. Olympic rules also do not apply to fans/viewers who may utilize social media to form brand connections otherwise deemed out of line with Olympic regulation, creating a sort of “social ambush”. (5) Further, the cultural and language barriers of not only the host country but also the potential target markets can inhibit and even deter sponsors from entering the “Commercial Games”. It is important for sponsors to make the appropriate political and social connections to ease entry very early on in the marketing process. The Olympics is about the world organizing for the purpose of the sporting games, and respecting cultural values is a huge part of that. (4) Together, the IOC and host city/country must establish, enact, and enforce regulations and laws surrounding the commercial activity of the Olympics so to not encroach on Olympic values and “to control and limit the commercialization of the Olympic Games”