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The Weekend Mumbo: First rule of the Olympics is you do not talk about the Olympics

Mumbrella sent this email to their subscribers on July 26, 2024.

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THE WEEKEND MUMBO

 

First rule of the Olympics is you do not talk about the Olympics

 

27th July 2024 

Peer into the future a few days, and you may be able to make out an Australian swimmer, standing in a packed Parisian stadium, gleaming gold medal around her neck. Her proud mum takes a photo of her daughter, and the next day, the athlete posts the happy snap, along with a grateful message thanking her coach, her family, and her sponsor.

By innocently mentioning her sponsor, a clothing company she signed to in her teens, the swimmer could be legally stripped of her Gold medal for breaching the notorious Rule 40 – a by-law in the Olympic Charter intended by to protect the Games from over-commercialism, but which effectively acts as a gag order for athletes, and sidelines those sponsors who support them on the treacherous road to the Games.

Rule 40 states that only approved sponsors — those like Coca Cola and Samsung who pay millions for the privilege — may reference “Olympic-related terms” in their marketing and promotional efforts. In turn, Olympians have to abide a time-period before, during, and after the Olympics where they cannot associate their Olympic journey with any brands that aren’t official sponsors —  meaning that during the brief window in which the world’s attention is focused on them, these athletes are not allowed to mentioned the sponsors who pay them to do so. It’s a rough deal for all.

Rule 40 has been gradually relaxed by the International Olympic Committee over time, although social media has acted to muddy things. Previously, Olympians were banned from any mention of any sponsors during the Olympic period, now they are allowed simple thank you messages – as long as there is no clear association between the sponsor and the athlete’s success at the Olympics, thus defeating the purpose nicely.

This March, all competitors, coaches, trainers and officials participating in the Olympic Games were issued with a set of Key Principles, in order to best follow Rule 40. The rule kicked in on July 18, this year, which is when competitors moved into the Athletes’ Village, and applies through to August 13, two days past the closing ceremony.

The guidelines state: “During the Games Period, you may provide one simple ‘thank-you’ message to each of your Non-Olympic Partner personal sponsors.” If posted on multiple platforms, the message must be identical, and must be posted at the same time.

“Thank-you” messages for non-Olympic partners should not:

1 — contain any Olympic Properties (such as the Olympic symbol, or other Olympic images, mottos or phrases, such as Paris 2024, and other properties listed in the Key Principles);

2 — contain photographs or videos from Olympic venues or Olympic medal ceremonies;

3 — feature your official Olympic team uniform or any Olympic medal;

4 — include any personal endorsement of a product or service; or

5 — suggest that a product or service helped your sporting performance.

Aside from Rule 40, there is also the Olympic Insignia Protection Act 1987, which further protects the use of “protected Olympic expressions”, such as Olympic, Olympics, Olympic Games, Olympiad, Olympiads, Summer Olympics, Olympic torch, Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together, and Paris 2024.

On top of this, the Australian Olympic Committee owns the intellectual property rights in 54 trademarks and slogans relating to the Australian Olympic team and the Olympic Games, including the Boxing Kangaroo, Olympics Unleashed, Green and Gold Day, and the hashtags #TeamAus #AusOlympic Team #TeamAustralia, #LikeAnOlympian and even #haveago – none of which can be used by brands not associated with the Games.

This list of trademarked hashtags (what a world!) is growing larger as we swing closer to Brisbane 2032, and already covers off the likes of #Brisbane2032 and #Queensland2032.

EXAMPLES OF INFRINGEMENT OF THE AOC’S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OIPA OLYMPICS SALE SAVE 50% Uses the Protected Olympic Expression ‘Olympics’ to advertise that it is having a sale of its products. oQv R ° brandxbeverages ¢2;.1bx Cheering on our Aussies in #olympics #cheers #su #uiced #gym sgymmotival Uses the Protected Olympic Expression ‘Olympics’ and the Olympic Ring Symboal to sell a beverage TRADE MARKS ) BRISBANE 2032? WE'LL CHEERS TO THAT Uses the AOC's BRISBANE 2032 trade mark to promote its beverage.

Other terms the IOC can crack down on corporations using in advertising during the Olympic period, should they wish, include the popular English words “summer,” “gold,” “games,” effort,” “victory”, and even the Latin version of the Olympic motto: “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” It also protects the use of the Olympic rings, images of medals, uniforms, and even “iconic images of Olympic host cities.” 

Athletes cannot even post photos of themselves at the Olympics online, if they are thanking a brand in the caption. That’s why the above hypothetical swimmer was stripped of her hypothetical medal, by the way.

In 2016, New Balance had over 70 sponsored athletes participating in the Rio Games, but because the company wasn’t an official IOC sponsor, they were threatened with sanctions if they wanted to congratulate these athletes publicly.

“We find the IOC’s Rule 40 extremely frustrating and challenging to work with as a brand which wants to celebrate the many amazing achievements of our hard-working global athletes,” New Balance spokesperson Amy Dow told ESPN at the time. “It is also unfortunate that many athletes do not have the freedom or opportunity to support the brands that support them.”

The IOC insists they need to protect the exclusivity of these trademarks in order to attract the sponsorship dollars that fund the games, and help support the athletes. Detractors counter that athletes also need to attract sponsorship dollars, and such restrictions put a cap on their earning potential.

During Rio 2016, a number of American companies were hit with warning letters from the United States Olympic Committee just for retweeting things from the official Olympic account. Others were threatened after daring to use the hashtag #rio2016 – even though the goal of hashtags is for them to spread wide and hopefully trend. To stifle this, is to complete misunderstand.

The rules for non-Olympic partners, as the IOC calls those who don’t splash out the tens of millions required to use the official terminology, are wide-reaching.

Terms like  “Road to Paris” are banned, while even the act of posting a photo of a sponsored athlete in front of the Eiffel Tower would fall foul of the rules.

“Iconic Paris imagery means that there is a connection with the Olympic Games beyond simply the use of an image of an Olympian,” the IOC explains. Brands cannot even repost athletes’ thank-you messages.

@ [X Brand] @XBrand August 9th 2024 Amazing performance in Paris yesterday by our new brand ambassador @athletename That's how to #BringthePower!! @ [X Brand] @XBrand August 9th 2024 Can't wait to see their performances over the next two weeks! Athlete Name @AthleteName August 9th 2024 Thank you @xbrand, my personal sponsor! Team Canada @TeamCanada August 9th 2024 Team Canada walks the Opening Ceremony #Paris2024 #TeamCanada Personal Non-Olympic Partners cannot repost Olympic content or Athletes’ thank-you messages. [X Brand] @XBrand August 9th 2024 Nice one @athletename, X Brand ambassador I did it! Athlete Name @AthleteName a. August 9th 2024 Personal Non-Olympic Partners cannot repost athlete content that includes Olympic stakeholders or Olympic medals.

This is only the petty end of the pool. Full-scale marketing campaigns ran by non-Olympic partners, starring Olympians, are insanely restricted and heavily policed.

The rules explain any campaigns running during the Games Period by what the IOC calls “non-Olympic partners” must not use Olympic Properties, and must be ‘generic’.

This means that they must:

1 — not make any connection with the Olympic Games other than by featuring the Olympic athlete

2 — be regularly in market at least 90 days before the Games Period (in this instance, April 18 was the cut off date); and:

3 — be run consistently and not escalated during the Games Period.

This is madness on many levels.

Let’s quickly touch on rule three. Why on earth can’t a campaign be escalated during the period in which the athlete is the most visible? Ostensibly, it is to protect the integrity of the official Olympic brand, but this element seems particularly crazy. For a campaign based solely around an Olympian to be required to air on TV as heavily in early May as in late July, just in order to skirt a rule, is nonsensical.

It also requires an insane amount of lead time, months of out-of-season advertising, and a fairly reliable crystal ball. Plus it kills off any spontaneous marketing opportunity that may arise for the Olympians – many of whom are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars just to compete – in the weeks leading up to the Games.

Let’s say an Australian skateboarder competing in the Olympics kickflipped over Bill Shorten on the Today show yesterday morning, and by the time you’re reading this, the video has been watched 100 million times. Now that Aussie kid is now the most famous Olympian competing this year. Jimmy Kimmel does a whole bit about him. Dave Grohl mentions him during a six-hour Foo Fighters concert. Steve Price calls him a little prick on The Project. He is hot property.

Under Rule 40, his faithful skateboard sponsor, a small three-man operation, who signed him when he was in Year Nine and has supported his rise to the world stage ever since, couldn’t even get him to front a campaign to run during the Games – even though they have the hottest property on their books. It’s madness.

And for the skateboarder, say that scenario had happened two months earlier, and say he didn’t even have a board sponsor. Thanks to the rule that says the ad must be regularly in market at least 90 days before the Games Period, no interested board company would even be able to capitalise on this brief hot period with a marketing blitz, nixing the possibility of a healthy endorsement payment for the Olympian.

Olympians make a hell of a lot of sacrifices, and sponsorship money is often the only way to fund what is a notoriously expensive endeavour. 

For these sponsors to be sidelined at the moment when all those years of financial support are about to pay off is a clear disincentive to those looking to put advertising dollars into a hopeful young Olympian. 

It may also soon present the scenario where a high-profile Australian athlete deems it a much better decision to take a multi-million-dollar endorsement deal, and just skip the Olympics altogether. 

After all, the only thing louder than the roar of an Olympic crowd is the sound of money talking. And Olympic Gold isn’t actual gold.

Enjoy your weekend.

Nathan Jolly

 
 
Mumbrella | Diversified Communications, Level 2, 99 Walker Street, North Sydney, NSW, 2060, Australia 
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View web version 154 prioity 2 -and challenge. See how they're making progress. [+ THE WEEKEND MUMBO FIRST RULE OF THE OLYMPICS IS YOU DO NOT TALK ABOUT THE OLYMPICS 27th July 2024  Peer into the future a few days, and you may be able to make out an Australian swimmer, standing in a packed Parisian stadium, gleaming gold medal around her neck. Her proud mum takes a photo of her daughter, and the next day, the athlete posts the happy snap, along with a grateful message thanking her coach, her family, and her sponsor. By innocently mentioning her sponsor, a clothing company she signed to in her teens, the swimmer could be legally stripped of her Gold medal for breaching the notorious Rule 40 – a by-law in the Olympic Charter intended by to protect the Games from over-commercialism, but which effectively acts as a gag order for athletes, and sidelines those sponsors who support them on the treacherous road to the Games. Rule 40 states that only approved sponsors — those like Coca Cola and Samsung who pay millions for the privilege — may reference “Olympic-related terms” in their marketing and promotional efforts. In turn, Olympians have to abide a time-period before, during, and after the Olympics where they cannot associate their Olympic journey with any brands that aren’t official sponsors —  meaning that during the brief window in which the world’s attention is focused on them, these athletes are not allowed to mentioned the sponsors who pay them to do so. It’s a rough deal for all. Rule 40 has been gradually relaxed by the International Olympic Committee over time, although social media has acted to muddy things. Previously, Olympians were banned from any mention of any sponsors during the Olympic period, now they are allowed simple thank you messages – as long as there is no clear association between the sponsor and the athlete’s success at the Olympics, thus defeating the purpose nicely. This March, all competitors, coaches, trainers and officials participating in the Olympic Games were issued with a set of Key Principles, in order to best follow Rule 40. The rule kicked in on July 18, this year, which is when competitors moved into the Athletes’ Village, and applies through to August 13, two days past the closing ceremony. The guidelines state: “During the Games Period, you may provide one simple ‘thank-you’ message to each of your Non-Olympic Partner personal sponsors.” If posted on multiple platforms, the message must be identical, and must be posted at the same time. “Thank-you” messages for non-Olympic partners should not: 1 — contain any Olympic Properties (such as the Olympic symbol, or other Olympic images, mottos or phrases, such as Paris 2024, and other properties listed in the Key Principles); 2 — contain photographs or videos from Olympic venues or Olympic medal ceremonies; 3 — feature your official Olympic team uniform or any Olympic medal; 4 — include any personal endorsement of a product or service; or 5 — suggest that a product or service helped your sporting performance. Aside from Rule 40, there is also the Olympic Insignia Protection Act 1987, which further protects the use of “protected Olympic expressions”, such as Olympic, Olympics, Olympic Games, Olympiad, Olympiads, Summer Olympics, Olympic torch, Faster, Higher, Stronger – Together, and Paris 2024. On top of this, the Australian Olympic Committee owns the intellectual property rights in 54 trademarks and slogans relating to the Australian Olympic team and the Olympic Games, including the Boxing Kangaroo, Olympics Unleashed, Green and Gold Day, and the hashtags #TeamAus #AusOlympic Team #TeamAustralia, #LikeAnOlympian and even #haveago – none of which can be used by brands not associated with the Games. This list of trademarked hashtags (what a world!) is growing larger as we swing closer to Brisbane 2032, and already covers off the likes of #Brisbane2032 and #Queensland2032. EXAMPLES OF INFRINGEMENT OF THE AOC’S INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OIPA OLYMPICS SALE SAVE 50% Uses the Protected Olympic Expression ‘Olympics’ to advertise that it is having a sale of its products. oQv R ° brandxbeverages ¢2;.1bx Cheering on our Aussies in #olympics #cheers #su #uiced #gym sgymmotival Uses the Protected Olympic Expression ‘Olympics’ and the Olympic Ring Symboal to sell a beverage TRADE MARKS ) BRISBANE 2032? WE'LL CHEERS TO THAT Uses the AOC's BRISBANE 2032 trade mark to promote its beverage. Other terms the IOC can crack down on corporations using in advertising during the Olympic period, should they wish, include the popular English words “summer,” “gold,” “games,” effort,” “victory”, and even the Latin version of the Olympic motto: “Citius, Altius, Fortius.” It also protects the use of the Olympic rings, images of medals, uniforms, and even “iconic images of Olympic host cities.”  Athletes cannot even post photos of themselves at the Olympics online, if they are thanking a brand in the caption. That’s why the above hypothetical swimmer was stripped of her hypothetical medal, by the way. In 2016, New Balance had over 70 sponsored athletes participating in the Rio Games, but because the company wasn’t an official IOC sponsor, they were threatened with sanctions if they wanted to congratulate these athletes publicly. “We find the IOC’s Rule 40 extremely frustrating and challenging to work with as a brand which wants to celebrate the many amazing achievements of our hard-working global athletes,” New Balance spokesperson Amy Dow told ESPN at the time. “It is also unfortunate that many athletes do not have the freedom or opportunity to support the brands that support them.” The IOC insists they need to protect the exclusivity of these trademarks in order to attract the sponsorship dollars that fund the games, and help support the athletes. Detractors counter that athletes also need to attract sponsorship dollars, and such restrictions put a cap on their earning potential. During Rio 2016, a number of American companies were hit with warning letters from the United States Olympic Committee just for retweeting things from the official Olympic account. Others were threatened after daring to use the hashtag #rio2016 – even though the goal of hashtags is for them to spread wide and hopefully trend. To stifle this, is to complete misunderstand. The rules for non-Olympic partners, as the IOC calls those who don’t splash out the tens of millions required to use the official terminology, are wide-reaching. Terms like  “Road to Paris” are banned, while even the act of posting a photo of a sponsored athlete in front of the Eiffel Tower would fall foul of the rules. “Iconic Paris imagery means that there is a connection with the Olympic Games beyond simply the use of an image of an Olympian,” the IOC explains. Brands cannot even repost athletes’ thank-you messages. @ [X Brand] @XBrand August 9th 2024 Amazing performance in Paris yesterday by our new brand ambassador @athletename That's how to #BringthePower!! @ [X Brand] @XBrand August 9th 2024 Can't wait to see their performances over the next two weeks! Athlete Name @AthleteName August 9th 2024 Thank you @xbrand, my personal sponsor! Team Canada @TeamCanada August 9th 2024 Team Canada walks the Opening Ceremony #Paris2024 #TeamCanada Personal Non-Olympic Partners cannot repost Olympic content or Athletes’ thank-you messages. [X Brand] @XBrand August 9th 2024 Nice one @athletename, X Brand ambassador I did it! Athlete Name @AthleteName a. August 9th 2024 Personal Non-Olympic Partners cannot repost athlete content that includes Olympic stakeholders or Olympic medals. This is only the petty end of the pool. Full-scale marketing campaigns ran by non-Olympic partners, starring Olympians, are insanely restricted and heavily policed. The rules explain any campaigns running during the Games Period by what the IOC calls “non-Olympic partners” must not use Olympic Properties, and must be ‘generic’. This means that they must: 1 — not make any connection with the Olympic Games other than by featuring the Olympic athlete 2 — be regularly in market at least 90 days before the Games Period (in this instance, April 18 was the cut off date); and: 3 — be run consistently and not escalated during the Games Period. This is madness on many levels. Let’s quickly touch on rule three. Why on earth can’t a campaign be escalated during the period in which the athlete is the most visible? Ostensibly, it is to protect the integrity of the official Olympic brand, but this element seems particularly crazy. For a campaign based solely around an Olympian to be required to air on TV as heavily in early May as in late July, just in order to skirt a rule, is nonsensical. It also requires an insane amount of lead time, months of out-of-season advertising, and a fairly reliable crystal ball. Plus it kills off any spontaneous marketing opportunity that may arise for the Olympians – many of whom are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars just to compete – in the weeks leading up to the Games. Let’s say an Australian skateboarder competing in the Olympics kickflipped over Bill Shorten on the Today show yesterday morning, and by the time you’re reading this, the video has been watched 100 million times. Now that Aussie kid is now the most famous Olympian competing this year. Jimmy Kimmel does a whole bit about him. Dave Grohl mentions him during a six-hour Foo Fighters concert. Steve Price calls him a little prick on The Project. He is hot property. Under Rule 40, his faithful skateboard sponsor, a small three-man operation, who signed him when he was in Year Nine and has supported his rise to the world stage ever since, couldn’t even get him to front a campaign to run during the Games – even though they have the hottest property on their books. It’s madness. And for the skateboarder, say that scenario had happened two months earlier, and say he didn’t even have a board sponsor. Thanks to the rule that says the ad must be regularly in market at least 90 days before the Games Period, no interested board company would even be able to capitalise on this brief hot period with a marketing blitz, nixing the possibility of a healthy endorsement payment for the Olympian. Olympians make a hell of a lot of sacrifices, and sponsorship money is often the only way to fund what is a notoriously expensive endeavour.  For these sponsors to be sidelined at the moment when all those years of financial support are about to pay off is a clear disincentive to those looking to put advertising dollars into a hopeful young Olympian.  It may also soon present the scenario where a high-profile Australian athlete deems it a much better decision to take a multi-million-dollar endorsement deal, and just skip the Olympics altogether.  After all, the only thing louder than the roar of an Olympic crowd is the sound of money talking. And Olympic Gold isn’t actual gold. Enjoy your weekend. Nathan Jolly MUMBRELLA | DIVERSIFIED COMMUNICATIONS, LEVEL 2, 99 WALKER STREET, NORTH SYDNEY, NSW, 2060, AUSTRALIA  THIS EMAIL WAS SENT TO . IF YOU WOULD RATHER NOT RECEIVE MUMBRELLA'S BEST OF THE WEEK EMAIL YOU CAN OR MANAGE SUBSCRIPTIONS. FacebookLinkedInTwitter
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