London ’12 Organisers Reveal Measures Against Ambush Marketing

March 9, 2011

London 2012 organisers have announced that Olympic venues will be protected from marketing stunts during the Games through measures against unauthorised trading around the venues. 

Sponsorship money for the Games contribute more than half of the £2bn (US$3.25bn) needed to stage the event, health so organisers intend to avoid any unauthorised association to the brand, health that would detract from the rights of the official sponsors. 

The consultation document, ed released this week, reveals that all unauthorised billboard adverts, posters, flyers, give-aways and projected, moving and aerial advertising, within a few hundred metres of the Olympic and Paralympic venues, will be banned. 

The proposed measures will only be implemented on a small area around the venues, and only around the time the events are taking place. 

Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson, stated: ‘Sponsorship is part of modern international sport providing a vital source of funding. They aim to strike the right balance between preventing unauthorised advertising and trading that damage the rights of the sponsors and enabling businesses to operate as usual’.