Olympic Tracker: Keeping Olympic customers sweet – a personal view

THE DIAMOND JUBILEE and last month’s “London Prepares” event acted as dry runs for the Olympic Games on an number of levels, but were there lessons to be learned for sponsors?

 

The confectionery sector was one of the battlegrounds for brands proving their Diamond Jubilee credentials last weekend. LOCOG partner Cadbury’s dressed its Dairy Milk bars in a purple, red and gold Diamond Jubilee wrapper (and no sign of the London 2012 logo), which included elements of the pack design from 1952.

 

Meanwhile Nestle-owned KitKat came up with “BritKat,” complete with Union Jack flag and bad pun. Other brands from cereals to dish washing tablets did much the same.

 

This is all good fun – or a cynical marketing ploy – depending on your point of view, and scarcely impinged on anybody’s enjoyment of the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

 

Much more concerning to me, however, was the brand activity around last month’s “London Prepares”, the university sports showcase which launched the Olympic Stadium to the public and gave LOCOG an opportunity to test the venue and security.

 

The evening was sponsored by LOCOG partner Cadbury and IOC partner Visa and the level of sponsorship activation appeared over the top – as were the prices in the concession stands.

 

The official sponsor 'Cadbury's' concession stand, for example, charged a huge premium above normal shop prices. The same was true later for drinks with a glass of wine at least 20 per cent above normal bar prices.

During the action, the intervention of the sponsors left an equally bitter taste in the mouth. The tug of war, for example, was held up while a series of Visa logos were placed alongside the rope.

 

No piece of action could be introduced without a reference to the sponsor's name or to a cheap prize on offer. Some chocolate lollies here or £20.12 on a prepaid credit card there.

 

Of course there will be no such in-stadium opportunities during the Olympic Games. But having got the big things right, I am concerned that the smaller things urgently need to be looked at.

 

With all of the investment that the UK has made in staging the 2012 Games – and the local and global benefits that will result – is it really that necessary for sponsors and organisers to claw back a fraction of that investment through over-charging?

 

Hundreds of thousands of people from around the world will be turning up with tickets that are not cheap. If they are then overcharged for food and drink by sponsors or licensees they will not be going home as ambassadors for London.

 

I am pro-Olympics overall. I believe that it is an opportunity for regeneration and can (not necessarily will) leave a legacy of new infrastructure and sporting opportunity at both amateur and elite level.

 

But it is absolutely vital that the organisers consider how the ordinary punters experience the Games if they are to be a success.

 

 

By Simon Rines

Follow Simon on Twitter: @SimonRines