Any huge event, be it a concert tour, royal wedding or sport activity, offers brilliant opportunities to marketers. Next year, London will host the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, which makes companies busy these days, getting ready for new clients and partners from abroad. A range of brands including Cadbury, BMW, McDonald’s and Coca-Cola have already started the promotional activity, and now the governments also steps in with a new campaign dedicated to the event. On September 21, the UK Prime Minister, David Cameron, announced the GREAT promotion, which is led by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) and aimed at showcasing the best in the country to attract new investors and tourists. 


You are welcome to share your thoughts on this article written by Tim Crow, Chief Executive Officer, Synergy, London

With less than a year to go to London 2012, Olympic sponsorship is virtually sold out, with over 50 partners signed up at global and domestic level by the IOC and LOCOG in deals worth $2billion combined. This makes it one of the biggest sponsorship programmes of its type in the world—it accounts for around one-third of total Games revenues—and certainly the most prestigious given that its members feature a plethora of iconic global brand owners such as BMW, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Samsung.