Carrying on the Olympic flame

The Olympics was always going to end up as a marketing battleground, however around 18 months on, it has been frequently reported that sport participation is down and all signs point to the Olympic legacy not having as much longevity as it should have done. Even with the re-ignition of enthusiasm seen from the Winter Olympics, it is clear that for brands this may be a great opportunity to take over the baton where the London Olympics left off.  

Did the London Olympics change the sports marketing landscape?

The Olympics had an initial impact in inspiring people to get off the couch and get more involved in sports. Swimming and boxing saw the biggest growth and Radio Five Live's poll taken around six months after the Olympics, suggested around one in five people had been inspired to play sport. This was all backed up when Sport England said the number of people playing sport at least once a week grew by 750,000.

All this pointed towards a growing market of people wanting to get involved in sport at a local level. But an increasing number of reports since 2012 have suggested that the initial enthusiasm from the public has continually dropped. For many brands this has created the opportunity for them to be the inspiration behind participation in their chosen sport at a number of levels.

Some of today’s gamemaker brands:

Adidas & the All Blacks Tour stimulated customer engagement using adidas’s player appearances with the All Blacks rugby team. To inspire rugby enthused youngsters, the campaign engaged 20 schools across London and Dublin, giving their rugby teams a chance to play with the professionals and see if they could match, or even beat them on the pitch. This is a great example of a brand merging a corporate goal of consumer engagement, whilst building on the ethos of Olympic legacy which was to encourage the athletes of tomorrow.

Last year Aberdeen Asset Management built on the popularity of sailing, which was garnered by Great Britain's Olympic success, to drive visibility at the biggest sailing event of the year. Through their sponsorship they created the opportunity to entertain some of their most valuable clients. The 1000-strong guest programme included a varied sailing and spectating agenda, running a full racing programme and boat charters hosted by sailing experts, to occupy and create energy within their extensive guest list.

Antidote have worked with the Team Sky cycling team since its inception when BSkyB and the British Cycling Federation decided to create a Pro Cycling Team. The mission was to create a brand that would inspire riders, partners and fans to get behind a team with no legacy. ‘The Line' was a team and a brand philosophy, as well as a graphic asset that got integrated into every element of the team’s behaviour, identity and communications, creating the feel of continuity and strength that every great team must have. Due to this relentless marketing effort, after only 2 years of racing, 64% of UK consumers, believe that Sky is advancing the sport of cycling in the UK and 33% of people in the UK, say that Team Sky has made them want to cycle more.

In a post Sochi 2014 that looks forward to the World Cup, the Commonwealth Games and Murray’s Wimbledon defence, maybe brands need to play a more substantial role in addressing the shortfall that may have occurred in the Olympic legacy. There is certainly a lot more we are going to see in this area that will demonstrate the value of a brands involvement over and above the cost of the sponsorship.

Read more from haystackonline in our Clubhouse.