Twitter agrees to help Locog prevent Olympic 'ambush marketing'
Twitter has agreed to prevent brands from using the social network for Olympic 'ambush marketing' attempts.
Games organiser Locog says that it is keen to prevent non-sponsors from using the event as a marketing opportunity at the expense of official Olympic brands.
Sponsorship deals for the event have raked in £670m for Locog, so it's no wonder that it wants to protect its official advertisers.
This issue was recently highlighted by digital agency Jam, which found that non-Olympic sponsor Nike is the brand most associated with the 2012 Games and is far out-performing official sponsor Adidas in terms of recognition.
Think like an entrepreneur: Five strategies for brand innovation
Innovation. It's brought up in articles, at conferences and in board meetings. But how can we innovate in companies that still don't have the flexibility or the right mind set?
Julie Cottineau, former VP of Brand for Virgin USA, brought the idea that we are all entrepreneurs to Columbia University's Brite Conference this morning. Innovation isn't just for new businesses so how do we bring it to the heart of an established company?
Facebook-based football game sells players physical Nike kit
The makers of Facebook football game I AM PLAYR are offering fans physical Nike merchandise for its fictional club River Park FC.
The freemium game’s primary income comes from selling virtual goods including Nike branded football boots and cans of Red Bull, but it sees the physical goods as a useful marketing tool as well as a secondary revenue stream.
Users can buy official Nike shirts and scarves from the game’s f-commerce site, powered by Zibaba, for £34.99 and £9.99 respectively.
Nike+ extends digital footwear range in time for the Olympics
Nike has announced a new range of digitally-enabled footwear that uses interactive mobile applications to track and measure the wearer’s movement.
This extends the existing Nike+ product line, which has to date created a community of over 6m users.
Nike's interactive video campaign lacks personal touch
Wieden + Kennedy NY has launched Nike Jordan's newest shoe, the CP3.V, with a
180 degree interactive video.
The video puts you into the middle of a fast break, the most chaotic situation in basketball, and allows you control what goes on around you.
Quick Controls Chaos, created for the Nike Jordan brand, allows you to choose which angle you view the game by sliding your mouse across the screen. To capitalise on the chaos, you can click on any unusual action on the court to watch it played back in full.
Will Olympics sponsors make the most of social?
Billions are spent by global brands on sports sponsorship. Olympic sponsors will have to learn the lessons from last year's World Cup and make the most of social media to get value out of their sponsorship deals.
Facebook photo spammers target popular brands
Converse is a well-loved brand with a fantastic history. I remember buying my first pair of All-Stars like it was yesterday (it wasn’t).
The company has sold 800m pairs of All-Stars, to the likes of Joey Ramone, Kurt Cobain and Snoop Dogg.
As such it comes as no surprise to discover that the brand is popular on Facebook, although the scale of its popularity is somewhat jaw-dropping.
At the World Cup, official sponsors are losing the brand wars
Is the age of expensive brand sponsorship coming to an end? The World Cup starts today and the brands getting the most brandlift from the events are not the ones who signed expensive sponsorship contracts.
It's Pepsi and Nike who have achieved the most World Cup buzz so far. But Adidas and Coke are the ones forking over for sponsorships. In today's world of the digital brand ambush, it's getting harder to make the case for official sponsorships.
Shoe companies look for a slam dunk with digital experiences
As the internet's role in daily life, more and more companies that make
physical products are trying to find ways to develop online components
that make those physical products more attractive to consumers.
A great example of this has been seen in the toy industry, where a growing number of products include internet add-ons. Webkinz stuffed animals, for instance, come with an access code granting access to an online virtual world.
Tiger Woods: the end of athlete endorsements as we know them?
By now, you're probably familiar with Tigergate. Who isn't? The news
and gossip is plastered everywhere online. The paparazzi and celeb gossip press
couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present than the one they've
received with the scandal that has erupted around the world's first
billionaire athlete.
For those in the marketing world, everyone is waiting to see what will happen to Tiger, his brand and the brands of the companies that sponsor him. Will the public forgive him? Will his sponsors?
