Did anybody see the banner at the Olympic park entrance and on advertising sites all over the place that read:......“There would be no goosebumps, gasps, pounding hearts, tears of joy, records smashed, strangers hugged, or a whole world brought together without………….. followed by the logos of McDonald’s, Adidas and Procter & Gamble and all of the other sponsors .
Of course I get that the sponsors are important but at the heart of this claim is a fundamental misunderstanding of the value exchange.
Brands sponsor the Olympics for a whole raft of reasons, indeed the role of brands at the Olympics has been one of moving from passive brand awareness to active brand engagement.
Today’s sponsors need to do much more than just show up and advertise their logo – they need to actively participate in the spirit of the event – provide a useful product or service – provide support for the community – be relevant, stand for something bigger than just selling more product – be engaged and give back to the community in a way that demonstrates core brand values that are aligned to the values of the modern Olympic games – respect, excellence and friendship. Through this kind of active brand engagement brands are the beneficiaries of the awareness, sales and loyalty they want to achieve.
But make no mistake, awareness, sales and loyalty are at the top of the brands objectives, sponsorship is the way they get to have the right, the money is the table stakes.
If I could provoke a little further, if the brands didn’t pay, would the Olympics happen anyway?
Of course they would, perhaps not on the scale, but athletes, runners, jumpers, throwers and sports people of all disciplines will always compete, they will always want to know who is fastest, can jump the highest, throw the farthest and people will always want to watch that.
So the sponsors don’t create those moments, but they sure as heck help, as long as we don’t lose sight of why athletes compete, why people watch and why sponsors sponsor, it will be a happy and healthy relationship for a long long time.
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