08 May 2009
The London Olympics is causing controversy again, this time with regard to the pitch for its advertising account.
The winning agency reportedly will be required to pay £10m for the privilege of providing all of the Games’ advertising, marketing, public relations and digital communications.
Yes, the agency pays to do the work. Is it just me or is somebody getting short-changed in that deal?
In fact, the supposed agreement is that the successful agency would be expected to sign up as a sponsor of the Games – although the two anonymous agencies that pulled out of the pitching process argue that the price is far too steep and unlikely to be justified by the exposure that the agency would receive from being named as an official sponsor. We all know how hard it is to measure the effectiveness of sponsorship deals anyway.
With creativity potentially losing out to capital, is this approach likely to secure the best quality marketing support for the Games?
Does this signal the beginning of an even more cynically money-focused era of marketing, or is it just yet another clumsy manoeuvre in the London Olympics’ catalogue of booboos?
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