On June 13, the worldwide Olympic sponsor Samsung unveiled its new logo to be used on all its London 2012 campaigns and advertising, including its sponsorship of the Torch Relay, for which it is a Presenting Partner. The presentation took place with the help of David Beckham, who signed up to be the Samsung London 2012 ambassador last month.
Photo:www.insidethegames.biz

The new logo, known as the Samsung Olympic Visual Identity System (SOVIS) has been designed exclusively for Samsung by award winning London-based artist Kate Moross. The logo is to signify an open call from the company to the general public in order to coincide with the marketing campaign’s ‘Everyone’s Olympic Games’ strapline.

Photo:www.marketingweek.co.uk

Samsung hopes to select from more nominees than ever before to carry the Olympic Flame as it travels the UK in 2012. To start the process Beckham announced the first nominee to bear the Olympic Flame. It turned out to be Gabriella Roseje, an 18-year-old from Bermondsey for her outstanding work with young people from disadvantaged backgrounds using her sporting talent.

Samsung has been associated with the Olympic Games for almost 25 years and has been the Official Wireless Telecommunications Partner since 1998.

Gyehyun Kwon, Samsung vice president and head of worldwide sports marketing, says ‘Samsung’s brand awareness was very low when the [Olympic] sponsorship first started—now our marketing has changed from brand awareness to brand preference’. He claims the Olympic marketing campaign is not about driving up sales, but is to strengthen the Samsung brand in the UK.

Procter & Gamble also signed a deal to become a partner of the London 2012 Paralympics, following their worldwide sponsorship of the Olympics. As a research revealed that 70 per cent of mums in the UK did not apply to see the London 2012 Olympics event in the public ballot P&G UK and Ireland decided to give 90 per cent of its ticket allocation for the event to mums and families.