Nonsponsor Brands: Ambush Marketing Strategies to Connect with the Olympic Games Amid Controversy

Promotion of the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris by NBCUniversal, which will televise the games in the U.S, is become more frequent and the barrage of PR and advertising programs of game sponsors are not that far away.

Here’s my take on Paris 2024:

Even though I believe that the Olympics is the most important of all sports events – full disclosure I have played key roles working for Olympic committees, would-be Olympic committees, have lectured at an International Olympic Committee media seminar and played major roles on brands’ Olympic programs – I still think that the organization that decides on which city will be awarded their games is the most hypocritical of all sports entities, even beating out the National Football League, which is difficult to do because of its money over anything attitude. 

The main reasons that I feel that way are: 

• The IOC’s attitude about threatening to sue nonofficial sponsors programs – known as ambush marketing, who do not use protected Olympic identification symbols.

• The IOC’s long history of allowing athletes from countries that start wars compete in their games as "Individual Neutral Athletes." 

• And most of all the IOC’s choice of host cities

Ambush Marketing

Even though I believe that the Olympics games are the most important of all sporting events, when a client was considering a sports tie-in and asked my advice, I would suggest an association with baseball, basketball and football, because those sports are covered year-round in the U.S. and a savvy PR program could gain significant earned media recognition. 

But occasionally, a client would tell me that they would like to be associated with the Olympics, but didn’t have enough money to meet the IOC’s demands. “Not a problem I would say.” “A creative ambush publicity and advertising program could establish a link with the Olympics, as long as it doesn’t break any rules.” And if the program is creative enough, the media will report on it because they don’t care if you’re an official sponsor or ambush marketer. To be safe, have an attorney research if anti ambush marketing laws are in effect in specific countries during an Olympics and that protected Olympic signage or verbiage is not used

Years ago, as a young child, I bought the sports business propaganda message that “sports are good, sports are pure.” 

But very shortly after landing a job with a New York City daily as a sports reporter (before moving on to none “toy department” assignments and then to the public relations business) my opinion of sports did a 180% turn as I witnessed unsportsmanlike behavior on all levels of the sports scene – high school, college and the pros.

Also changed was my opinion of the sanctity of “official” sports sponsorships. After all, in my high school and college classes I was taught that free enterprise is an important part of the American economic system and restraint of trade is against the law. But the sports cartels cry “unfair” when a company unleashes an ambush marketing campaign without breaking any laws. 

Why should ambush marketers be labeled immoral by sponsors of multi-million dollars sports events and the cartels that control them, considering the debauched behavior of the controlling powers? It’s ridiculous to claim that ambush marketing is disgraceful when many totalitarian countries have been awarded the games by the IOC and all the alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages and unhealthy foods are allowed to be associated with the Olympics

And in comparison with many “official sponsors” programs, the great majority of which are copies of former ones, ambush marketing has provided a welcome dose of creativity.

A few of the memorable ambush marketing campaigns were American Express saying that Americans don’t need Visas to travel to Norway for the 1994 Winter Olympics and Nike’s telling Joe and Jane Citizen athletes that they can find their greatness in cities around the world named London during the 2012 London Summer Olympics.

American Sponsors

American sponsors of the Olympic Games remind me of the Japanese monkeys – “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” because they follow the Olympic Games to the most authoritarian and anti-American governments in the world without shame, by saying they are just following the athletes. (And if anyone believes that, I have a Great Wall in China, the Kremlin in Russia and the Eiffel Tower in Paris to sell you.)

If I had to choose which of the U.S. Olympic backers deserves the most condemnation it would be NBCUniversal, which in 2011, paid $4.38 billion for the rights to the next four Olympics and three years later it bought another six for $7.7 billion. That gave the network U.S. rights to the games from the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, to the 2032 

Summer Games in Brisbane, Australia. Missing from the networks coverage of the games since they partnered with the IOC was any criticism of the “politics has no place in the Olympics” cartel, even though politics has always played a large part in the IOC’s decisions.

Host cities

The IOC has been claiming that “politics has no place in the Olympics” ever since I first knew that there was an IOC. But it has always played power politics beginning with the Nazi Olympics in 1936, when it allowed Germany to host both the summer and winter Olympics despite it being known that the Hitler government had jailed thousands of people in concentration camps because of their religion, political beliefs or life styles.

The power politics of the IOC has continued since 1936, and it has awarded its propaganda rich games to the totalitarian governments of Russia, China, Mexico and Yugoslavia. It has also insisted that Russian and Belarus athletes be permitted to complete in Paris 2024, even though many countries have threatened to boycott the games if those athletes compete. The Olympics will be played between July 26th, and August 11th, 2024.

The IOC and NBC said the deal for the rights was made without any guarantees of where the games will be held, which shows that when it comes to choose between democratic countries and dictatorships, even those who start wars. NBCUniversal, the IOC and game sponsors sees no difference.

Since Paris was named host of the 2024 games there have been many controversies, including charges of bribery. France is a democratic country.

Thus, NBC is free to discuss the controversies without any backlash from a despotic government. I wouldn’t bet a Euro that they will because the IOC will be watching.

The motto of the IOC is “Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together.”  A more honest slogan might be "Cha Ching, Cha Ching, Cha Ching.” 

Even though I find many things wrong with the Olympics, I still believe it is the most important sporting event and I don’t endorse throwing the baby out with the bathwater. What’s needed, in my opinion, is a change in how the host cities are selected, sponsors demanding that the games not be awarded to totalitarian-run countries, which use them as propaganda vehicles, and to limit the power of the IOC and give more power to athletes in decision making. Also democratic countries banding together to stage their own Democracy Games instead of participating in ones held in totalitarian countries devoid of human rights should be considered.

Sports are important. But in my opinion, countries that uphold democratic values and respect human rights should be rewarded – not countries that rule by fright.

Lesson For PR People

As an old Olympics hand, I don’t recall one chapter of the games that have not been marked in controversy from protest groups. The protests are not limited to the IOC. Many have targeted Olympic sponsors. Thus, PR agency account groups representing Olympic sponsors must be prepared for attacks against their clients. A well-crafted Olympic program should contain a response plan that can quickly be used to answer attacks if necessary.