Olympic Sponsors Should Be Inspiring A Generation- Ben Wells

May 22, 2012

Another week, another article putting the boot into the Olympic legacy. This particular story – in the Sunday Times – was asking (probably with justification) why the Olympic Park would not be fully opened to the public until early 2014. The “legacy” question is the gift that keeps on giving for journalists of all political persuasions, looking to fire their readers up about the return on their £9bn investment.
I came across another story this weekend, this time in the Independent which announced the opening of the UK’s first hospital ward dedicated to British teenagers seeking “extreme weight loss”. According to the article, a third of our 10-11 year olds is obese. One would have hoped with the Olympics just around the corner we would be ideally placed to “Inspire a Generation” to get themselves fit and healthy. However, studies show that since 2005, participation levels amongst young people has actually decreased.
The usual target of this fury is the Government, and often rightly so given successive administrations’ decisions to sell off playing fields and downgrade the importance of PE in the curriculum. But, shouldn’t we also be looking at another group of interested parties and asking them about their intentions to continue the Olympic values in the UK once the glitz and glamour have rolled out of town in September?
I’m talking about the Sponsors.
Visit any London 2012 sponsor website and there is endless copy about how they’re contributing to the Olympics, how this Summer’s Games will be the most sustainable ever or how they can get you closer to the Greatest Show on Earth. With very few exceptions there is virtually nothing which looks beyond the Games, much less which seeks to redress the worrying social trends I’ve highlighted. The big announcements on corporate legacy may well be in the pipeline but you get the feeling that once the curtain comes down on London, it’s either “job done” or next stop, Sochi.
The London Games will benefit from around £700m of corporate investment – a phenomenal sum – and it begs the question of whether these companies are driving the optimal return from simply focussing on the build up and the Games itself. Many London 2012 sponsors are British companies and all of them have business interests in the United Kingdom. Using the Olympics to help to address real life problems would be a wonderful legacy and a decent payback for the public funding which has provided them a global platform to market their products. Wouldn’t it be a better story for all of us if the Olympics was just the launchpad?

Another week, another article putting the boot into the Olympic legacy. This particular story – in the Sunday Times – was asking (probably with justification) why the Olympic Park would not be fully opened to the public until early 2014. The “legacy” question is the gift that keeps on giving for journalists of all political persuasions, looking to fire their readers up about the return on their £9bn investment.

I came across another story this weekend, this time in the Independent which announced the opening of the UK’s first hospital ward dedicated to British teenagers seeking “extreme weight loss”. According to the article, a third of our 10-11 year olds is obese. One would have hoped with the Olympics just around the corner we would be ideally placed to “Inspire a Generation” to get themselves fit and healthy. However, studies show that since 2005, participation levels amongst young people has actually decreased.

The usual target of this fury is the Government, and often rightly so given successive administrations’ decisions to sell off playing fields and downgrade the importance of PE in the curriculum. But, shouldn’t we also be looking at another group of interested parties and asking them about their intentions to continue the Olympic values in the UK once the glitz and glamour have rolled out of town in September? 

I’m talking about the Sponsors.

Visit any London 2012 sponsor website and there is endless copy about how they’re contributing to the Olympics, how this Summer’s Games will be the most sustainable ever or how they can get you closer to the Greatest Show on Earth. With very few exceptions there is virtually nothing which looks beyond the Games, much less which seeks to redress the worrying social trends I’ve highlighted. The big announcements on corporate legacy may well be in the pipeline but you get the feeling that once the curtain comes down on London, it’s either “job done” or next stop, Sochi.

The London Games will benefit from around £700m of corporate investment – a phenomenal sum – and it begs the question of whether these companies are driving the optimal return from simply focussing on the build up and the Games itself. Many London 2012 sponsors are British companies and all of them have business interests in the United Kingdom. Using the Olympics to help to address real life problems would be a wonderful legacy and a decent payback for the public funding which has provided them a global platform to market their products. Wouldn’t it be a better story for all of us if the Olympics was just the launchpad?

About Ben Wells:

Ben has fifteen years’ experience in the commercial side of sport. Having spent six years at Chelsea FC, where he was Head of Marketing, Ben launched Ishtar Consulting in 2011 with a view to providing specialist sponsorship and marketing support to brands, rightsholders and agencies. Prior to his time at Chelsea Ben spent nearly four years at Redmandarin, the strategic sponsorship consultancy. Follow Ben on Twitter @ben_wells1 or get in touch via  ben.wells@ishtarconsulting.com. This Blog appears regularly at http://benwells1.blogspot.com

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