We can’t wait for the Olympics.
The excitement. The athletic endeavour. The Corinthian spirit.
It’s impossible not to get excited about it.
Sadly, it’s equally impossible to talk about without impinging upon the rules LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) have made surrounding the quad-annual sports fest.
You won’t be able to have a Pepsi because other sugary drinks-makers have ponied up the dough for corporate sponsorship. You won’t be able to enjoy a single chip at the events unless the potato has been peeled by Ronald McDonald’s creepy hands.
One of the biggest stories in the build-up to the event that happens in England’s capital city in the year that’s one more than 2011 and one less than 2013 is the draconian approach to anyone considered to be infringing on the Olympic brand.
The brand police have been clamping down excessively hard on anyone deemed to be illegally cashing in on the games. The other day, five ring donuts were thrown in prison for being in a formation that was deemed to too closely resemble the official Olympic trademark. It’s madness.
We’ve never been too worried by the occasional strongly worded letter from an expensive legal firm. With that in mind, we’re delighted to announce our official sponsorship of the largest athletics event this year in London. London, France.
READ ALL ABOUT IT: Details of our event were advertised in London, England today
It’s located in Burgundy, half-way between the mustard-makers of Dijon and the Lyonnaisse sauce-makers of Lyon. Something exciting happened there once, but it was so long ago, no-one can really remember what it was.
That’s all about to change this summer as London, France plays host to the biggest athletics event the town has ever seen. On Wednesday, August 1, some of the finest athletes in the world will be elsewhere, but we’ll be having a great time in London, France.
- WHEN: Wednesday, August 1
- EVENT: Egg and spoon race
- PRIZE: €100 Paddy Power Betting Account
- ENTRY: Open to all
There’s a prize up for grabs worth more than all the lumps of metal handed out in the East End in the coming weeks. The winner of our London, France event will get a Paddy Power betting account with €100 sitting in it, waiting to be used. All you need to do to enter is turn up in London, France on the day.
We promise there won’t even be any gender-testing or anything, unless you specifically want one.
LONDON, FRANCE: Calling it a one-horse town is overdoing it by at least one horse (pic: Google)
Screw LOCOG, Screw the Brand Police. Would say screw the UK, but it’s already screwed!
fantastic
Whilst you complain about these corporate sponsors and LOCOG, don’t forget that, like it or not, the commercial element is a massive part of the Games now, particularly in footing a significant portion of the bill. You need them as it allows you to make the best use of your gutter advertising.
How is it ‘gutter advertising’, Patrick?
Should all businesses just bow down to the all powerful Jacques Rogge, Sepp Blatter et al and the extremely questionable liberties they take when it comes to protecting their precious corporate sponsors of their respective major events?
We were handed a series of guidelines from LOCOG about advertising around the games and came up with a novel and entirely legal way of getting around them.
Most of the advertising I’ve seen from the corporate ‘friends of the games’ has, in my opinion, been dreary and – I’m guessing – not especially effective. The official corporate sponsors are free to utilise their advertising spend as they see fit, as is Paddy Power. In this case, we played upon the punitive approach adopted by LOCOG in a perfectly legal way. Should all the businesses in the world not sponsoring the games just sit on their hands for the duration of the Olympics?
One man’s ‘gutter advertising’ is another man’s creativity.
Okay so you managed to come up with what you supposed was creative guerrilla marketing. In reality it’s a poster that has gotten little or no coverage. The thing about guerrilla marketing is that you really need to strike them where it hurts which is, AHEM… the actual Olympic games… you know the one where all the people are.
Thanks for the advice.
‘the one where all the people are’