Free condoms in the Olympic Village from Durex
The more than 10, 000 athletes at this year’s London Olympics will receive free condoms in the Olympic Village from Durex, the world’s top-selling brand and part of England’s Reckitt Benckiser Group. But Reckitt Benckiser isn’t trumpeting its tie to the event, traditionally a marketing bonanza for big brands such as Coca-Cola (KO) and McDonald’s (MCD). “We’re restricted by the Olympics’ organizing committee guidelines on what we can and can’t say, ” says company spokeswoman Andraea Dawson-Shepherd.今年参加伦敦奥运会的1万多名运动员将免费得到杜蕾斯在奥运村发放的安全套，这个世界顶级品牌隶属于英国利洁时集团。但利洁时并未大肆宣扬他们与奥运会的合作关系，一般情况下，这是像可口可乐和麦当劳等大品牌最重要的营销手段。公司的发言人Andraea Dawson-Shepherd说：“奥组委对我们有严格的限定，哪些话可以说，哪些话不能说。”
That’s because Reckitt Benckiser isn’t one of the companies that have plunked down £1 billion ($1.6 billion) to be official sponsors of the London Games. Among those is Procter &Gamble (PG), whose household products compete fiercely with Reckitt Benckiser’s around the world. To protect its partners, the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has cracked down on non-sponsors trying to hijack the Games through ambush or guerrilla marketing.
这是因为利洁时向伦敦奥运会的赞助金额没有达到10亿英镑，因此并非官方赞助商。财大气粗的一家公司是宝洁，它的家用产品在全世界与利洁时的产品有激烈的竞争。为了保护赛会合作者，伦敦奥组委严厉打击非赞助商暗中利用奥运会和游击营销的行为。
Every big sporting event, from soccer’s World Cup to the Super Bowl, has rules to protect sponsors’ investments, but clever marketers have often found ways around them. Whether it’s American Express advertising that you “Don’t need a visa” to visit the 1992 Winter Games (rival Visa was an official sponsor) or Dutch brewer Bavaria hiring models clad in tight orange dresses to attend matches at the 2010 World Cup, sponsored by Anheuser-Busch, guerrilla marketing is as much a part of the Olympics as tales of athletes overcoming adversity.
从世界杯到超级碗的任何一届大型赛事中，都有一些规则来保护赞助商的投资，但是聪明的营销专家总能找到一些规避的手段。美国运通在1992年冬季奥运会期间的广告词是“无需签证（visa）”（其竞争对手VISA是官方赞助商）；德国巴伐利亚啤酒公司聘请身着橙色紧身服装的模特，出现在安海斯布希公司（译者注：下有百威等品牌）赞助的2010年世界杯赛场上。游击营销就像奥运会的运动员一样，要克服重重险阻。
LOCOG aims to change that. The anti-ambush rules it got Parliament to pass are the most restrictive ever, say marketing experts. They outlaw the use of combinations of words such as “2012, ” “London, ” and “gold” to such a degree that a suntan lotion ad with the tag line “Get bronze for 2012” would likely draw fire. Another statute restricts advertising near athletic venues, to prevent a repeat of 1996, when Nike (NKE) blanketed parts of Atlanta with Swooshes, drawing attention from sponsor Adidas. Fines can reach £20, 000 ($31, 670).
伦敦奥组委准备改变这样的状况，营销专家透露，它让议会通过了迄今为止最严格的反伏击条例。像“2012”、“伦敦”、“金”等字眼组合的广告语都是违法的，甚至有一款防晒霜因其“为2012展示古铜色的皮肤”的广告语而遭到调查。另一项规定是限制体育场馆周边的广告，以避免1996年奥运会中，耐克在亚特兰大投放了铺天盖地的Swoosh运动鞋广告，转移了人们对官方赞助商阿迪达斯的注意力这种行为的重演。最高罚款金额可达2万英镑。
“Any marketer wanting to do anything with the Games could find themselves on the sharp end with LOCOG, ” says Mark Blayney Stuart, head of research at The Chartered Institute of Marketing in Britain. “This is a new development in the history of marketing—that previously acceptable commercial practices can now be faced with criminal charges because a powerful organizer doesn’t approve. The million-dollar question is: Have they gone too far?” Not at all, say LOCOG and the International Olympic Committee. “Without sponsors, the Games would not happen, ” says a LOCOG spokesman. “People who seek the same benefits for free … are effectively depriving the Games of key revenue.”
英国特许市场营销协会的Mark Blayney Stuart说：“任何想和赛会扯上关系的营销人士都会发现他们处于伦敦奥组委的刀尖下。这是营销历史的一个新发展，那些从前被准许的商业行为将面临犯罪质控，因为有一个强大的组织不同意这样做。那么最核心的一个问题是：他们做得太过分了吗？”伦敦奥组委和国际奥委会说，完全没有。一位发言人说：“没有赞助商，奥运会就无法成功举办，那些想免费占便宜的人是在剥削奥运会的价值。”
It’s unlikely brands that aren’t sponsors will simply leave the field to those that are, says André Soldner, a sports lawyer at Klinkert Zindel Partner in Frankfurt. Thirty-five percent of British marketers say they’re likely to do some branding during the Olympics, according to a survey by The Chartered Institute of Marketing. The challenge for Durex and other non-sponsors expected to seek buzz in London is how to creatively glom onto the Games without raising LOCOG’s ire. LOCOG’s challenge will be to police ambushes without drawing attention to offending brands. Says Blayney Stuart: “The irony is that the more you try to clamp down on it, the more coverage it gets.” So far, no one has been arrested.
法兰克福Klinkert Zindel事务所一位体育律师André Soldner说，非赞助商们似乎不会老老实实离开，把市场留给赞助商。根据特许市场营销协会的一项调查，有35％的英国广告商承认他们将在奥运会期间做宣传。杜蕾斯和其它非赞助商们所面临的挑战是，创造性地把手伸向奥运会，而又不会惹恼伦敦奥组委。伦敦奥组委所面临的挑战则是既要约束游击行为，又不能过分得罪这些大品牌。Blayney Stuart说：“具有讽刺意味的是，你越严厉地打击，甘愿冒险的人越多。”截至目前，还没有人被逮捕。
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