Top Topical at a price?

Like many agencies in Belgium, we received an interesting communication from the Belgian Olympic Committee this week. The email gently reminded all agencies and brands that the Olympic Marketing Rights are reserved for sponsors of the IOC TOP programme, sponsors of the Local Organising Committee and sponsors of the National Olympic Committees (which is quite a number of sponsors). And rightly so in our opinion. The email then went on to say that all brands sponsoring an individual athlete must not communicate in any way around that individual athletes’ achievement at the Summer Olympic Games. The implication is that any brand that advertises on the back of Olympic success by an athlete that they sponsor will be hearing from the Belgian Olympic Committee.

I think this raises an interesting question about where brands should draw the line in celebrating a sponsorship. Prior to setting up our consultancy here, I worked at IMG where I represented various tennis players and golfers. When a client won a tournament, particularly a big one, the sponsor often ran a Top Topical ad congratulating the player, even though they were not a sponsor of the event itself. Last year an athlete, who is sponsored by one of our clients, won a major tournament in the world of sport. Our client ran a top topical to congratulate the athlete, which seems logical to me. The fact that they did not sponsor the event doesn’t really come into it, especially as they didn’t use any of the events logos or imagery.

Sponsorship of individual athletes can also become more complex when the individual participates in a team event. In tennis and golf this happens with events such as the Davis Cup and the Ryder Cup, regularly causing friction with an individual athlete’s sponsors.

It seems to me that providing the athlete’s sponsor does not use exclusive labels, imagery or explicit reference to the event in the advertising, then they are entitled to celebrate the moment. After all, in many cases the athletes achieve success thanks to that long term support from commercial brands.