Ambush marketers not welcome: BOCOG

Beijing - China Advertising Association (CAA) and the Beijing Olympic Organising Committee (BOCOG) have ordered a halt on unofficial sponsors using the Olympics to promote their brands.

Some 60 companies have spent tens of millions for the right to officially align their brands with the Olympic Games, but to date more than 1,000 “street Olympic” advertisers have engaged in marketing activity around the Olympics.

At a press conference in Beijing yesterday, BOCOG urged all media to refrain from carrying advertisements of non-Olympic brands for the duration of the Games and said from 1 August to 27 August any unauthorised use of images of athletes, coaches and officials participating in the Beijing Olympic Games in ads should be put to a halt.

Chen Feng, BOCOG’s marketing department vice director, told the press conference that BOCOG wants to incorporate CAA's capacity to guide, coordinate, serve and supervise the advertising industry in the campaign to protect Olympic intellectual property rights.

But Chris Reitermann, president of OgilvyOne China, said most brands opt to reflect the spirit of Olympics in their advertising.

"A master of this kind of ambush marketing is Nike, and I certainly expect a major campaign around the Olympic doing just that," Reitermann added.

One question that remains though, is how unofficial Olympic brands will win consumers' trust after they have failed to recognise intellectual property rights?