The armed forces have today begun a massive training exercise across London to test their responses to potential threats during the Olympic Games.

All forms of the military have begun an eight-day exercise called Olympic Guardian which is designed to test their response to potential threats that could arise during the Olympics.

As part of the exercise, therapy the Army, Navy and Air Force will be deploying Helicopters, Jet fighters, warships, ground based radar systems and surface-to-air missiles to allow the servicemen and women operating them to become familiar with working in the area.

Air Vice-Marshal Stuart Atha, air component commander for Olympics air security, said: “What we will have is a plan that has many levels to it which will allow us to deal at one end – which is that 9/11-type attack – perhaps down to the lower and the slower type of threat that we may face. 

“There is no specific threat and all we are doing is having in place what we would describe as prudent and appropriate measures in place, in order that we could react if required in a timely and appropriate fashion.”

Air Vice-Marshal Atha said he hoped the exercise would have “an effect on the mind” of any potential attackers, and added: “I would hope when they see how we are preparing they might be deterred from making any threats to the Games.”

The RAF warned that people in south-east England will notice an increase in air activity at certain times, in particular this weekend.

Other aircraft involved in the exercise include Royal Navy Sea King helicopters temporarily based at RAF Northolt, RAF Puma helicopters based at a Territorial Army centre in Ilford, east London, and Army and Royal Navy Lynx helicopters on HMS Ocean in the Thames.

Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond said: “Whilst there is no specific threat to the Games, we have to be ready to assist in delivering a safe and secure Olympics for all to enjoy.

“The fact that our state-of-the-art Typhoons will be stationed at RAF Northolt underlines the commitment of the Ministry of Defence and our armed forces to keeping the public safe at a time when the world will be watching us.”

Eurosport Events have revealed today the Chinese broadcasters for two World Touring Ccar Championship (WTCC) Chinese rounds.

Eight free to air broadcasters will broadcast the event in mainland China next October 5th from Beijing and October 12th from Shanghai.

They Include Channel Max (SiTV) based in Shanghai, generic and CSPN Network based in Beijing (including Shandong TV, here Hubei TV, Xinjiang TV and Jiangxi TV) with broadcast of the two races live at 14:50 and 15:50 respectively (local time).

Also CCTV 5, the state owned sports broadcaster, will broadcast highlights of the event within ‘Auto times’ weekly magazine, while TVB in Honk Kong and TDM in Macau will broadcast a dedicated magazine on the following week.

On a pan-Asia Pacific basic, Eurosport Asia will deliver comprehensive live TV coverage of the two events, whilst ESS Fox will tape the races in the following week.

Overall, 92 broadcasters over 186 countries will air WTCC Chinese rounds.

Francois Ribeiro, Eurosport Events COO, commented: “It’s the first time Eurosport Events will run two back to back events in China over the two main cities, Beijing and Shanghai. Given the importance of the Chinese automotive market and the first ever WTCC participation of Chinese driver Ma Qing Hua on his home soil, we were really keen to deliver a solid domestic coverage.”

The public will decide Istanbul’s 2020 bid logo following the submitting of five designs for public opinion.

All five can be seen on the official website and the competition is designed to engage the public and fuel the Olympic passion in Turkey which the IOC has already reported to be at 73%. 

After the logo design is decided then all the branding will follow for the candidature files. 

Turkish businessman, Haran Arat, who is now the leader of the bid said, “Last month’s IOC Working Group report revealed that Istanbul 2020 has incredibly strong Government and Public Support and the national excitement generated by the decision to make Istanbul a Candidate City demonstrates what this means to our country. 

“The winning designer will have the honour of knowing they have created a logo that represents a bid backed by all levels of Government and enjoys the full support of the people of Turkey – the Istanbul 2020 Candidate City logo will be famous throughout our nation.” 

Arat also noted that the enthusiasm for the bid has great impetus from the youth, “Turkey is a nation filled with millions of educated, talented young people – most of whom support Istanbul 2020. So it is no surprise to see several of the shortlisted logo designs coming from our nation’s talented young designers. 

“I am sure that whichever logo is selected, it will help us to promote our national dream to host a Games that, for the first time ever, spans two continents and provides a bridge to unite and inspire the next generation all over the world.” 

Competitor cities Tokyo and Madrid have both kept their applicant phase logos and added the rings to their new candidate branding. 

The IOC will vote in Buenos Aires on September 7th 2013 for the host city of the 2020 summer Olympics.

UEFA Euro 2012 sponsors Carlsberg, buy Orange and Castrol will all increase their social media activity around this summer’s tournament to avoid being overshadowed by the likes of Coca-Cola and McDonald’s, impotent which are also sponsoring the London Olympics.

With a little more than five weeks to go until the opening match of Euro 2012 in Poland, Carlsberg has launched a Facebook campaign that encourages fans to show their support for England via a series of challenges as part of a wider multimillion campaign.

David Scott, director of marketing for Carlsberg UK, said: “We’ve never previously used Facebook on this scale to understand the England fan and talk to them about what they know and love about the game.

“Consumers tell us that the Olympics don’t give the same sense of drinking occasion that a football match does, so we’re applying this insight to drive sales in pubs and supermarkets.”

For Castrol, the growth of social media since Euro 2008 means that it can now use the predictions from its EDGE Index – the official tournament ranking system – to respond to fans in real-time on Facebook and Twitter.

A spokeswoman for Castrol said: “It’s not just about the index tools this year. We can now be far more interactive with our fans. For example, we’re extending our Tested to the Limit partnership with Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo through a new digital and social fan activation.”

The digital presence will be supported by in-store, outdoor and press activity as the brand looks to engage with fans across multiple touchpoints.

Orange has made interaction the brand’s biggest priority for its Euro 2012 strategy. The network is focusing the bulk of its marketing on direct channels, such as using social media for its Supporters’ Cup competitions and launching the official Euro 2012 mobile app.

TV activity is also planned but John Constantinou, head of global sponsorships and partnerships at Orange, says this is more of a “nice to have” than its core focus. The brand is more interested in creating interactions.

“Big TV ads and perimeter boards in the stadia alone won’t be enough to achieve cut-through in this busy year.

“We are already a known brand and have high awareness levels so we want to add value to football fans and our customers to improve their brand preference and hopefully make them more loyal,” he adds.

Glasgow has unveiled its bid for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games hoping to capitalize on Glasgow’s status as a host city for the London 2012 Games.

The 2018 Youth Games is expected to attract more than 3,000 athletes ages 15-18, competing in all 28 Olympic sports.

Glasgow, the UK’s candidate for the Games, is competing against five countries, including Argentina, Colombia and Poland.

Officials hope Glasgow’s bid will be successful since much of the sporting, accommodation, and transport infrastructure will already be in place as a legacy of the 2014 CommonwealthGames which Glasgow is hostng.

Glasgow City Council leader Gordon Matheson said, “We face tough competition, but hosting the Youth Olympics is a very big prize. It is on a scale of a sporting event like the Commonwealth Games. It is competing to be the third largest sporting event in the world.

“And of course competition is going to be high. It should be give the prize involved – but Glasgow is in it to win it”, he added.

The host city for the 2018 Youth Games will be chosen in the summer of 2013.

UK consumers are talking more and more with their friends and relatives about the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympic games, but the rise in buzz about the games is very gradual, according to the latest findings by Keller Fay Group.

To date, football remains a much bigger talking point, particularly among men and many traditional sport fans. Buzz is also much weaker outside ofLondon and the South-East.

These are the findings of the latest consumer research on word of mouth by the Keller Fay Group. They are based on new, just released information from Keller Fay’s TalkTrack Britain study, an ongoing research programme which tracks word of mouth in the UK on a continuous basis. It is the only such research that looks at both offline as well as online conversation and was launched in the UK in July 2011.

During April 2012, 20% of UK consumers said they had discussed the Games over the previous 24 hours, which is up slightly on the March figure (18%) and considerably above the levels recorded in the latter half of 2011 (8-10%). As the Games approach, buzz will of course increase, but at this stage we are some way off from the Games capturing the attention of the entire nation.

The 20% buzz figure compares with 25-30% who typically discuss Premier League football in a 24-hour period. More broadly, issues such as holidays, shopping, food/diet and money/economic issues are generally more widely discussed.

Encouragingly for London 2012, those discussing the games are not necessarily hardcore sports fans, with women almost as likely to discuss the Games as men. But the downside is that many of the traditional sporting audience – football and rugby fans in particular – are currently more focussed on their own teams and leagues. So perhaps attention will shift to the Olympics once the football and rugby seasons finally close.

The other challenge facing LOCOG is how to engage those living far away from London and other Olympic venues. People living in London itself are around three times more likely to discuss the Games than those in Scotland or NE England.

In summarising the research results, Steve Thomson, Managing Director of Keller Fay UK, said “It’s clear that excitement aboutLondon 2012 is building, but at the moment traditional sports – football especially – are hard to dislodge from getting the main attention around the nation’s kitchen and pub tables. In England, this week has started with the focus on Roy Hodgson, and it seems that until the summer itself the Olympics aren’t yet top of the agenda.”

The Keller Fay Group is the first full-service market research company focused exclusively on word of mouth (WOM) and brand advocacy.