Whilst some of the big players like Coca-Cola, Visa, McDonalds etc. have truly taken the opportunities available via online media by the throat, I have got just one little nit to pick with the Marketing Team for the London Olympics.
These Games have been branded as the Social Games, urging Olympic fans to use all available online channels to access and to be part of this glorious event. The term Social Games does instantly make us think of YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and the likes. We connect the term with all what is online, what is digital and what has been part of our daily lives for quite some time now.
The Games are also not only time to shine for London, as it could seem, but for the whole nation too. It is time for the “Old Blighty” to show off .
So, here is my little nit: Why has this not translated into the Olympic logo too? Is not the logo the potential Mount Olympus of brand advertising? I am not going to comment on the design itself, however in an online advertising age I cannot help but wonder that the logo does not quite reflect this. It should be social, but it is not. It should promote the whole nation, but it does not. Let’s just have a look at it here and compare it with one really suitable for the digital age we live in – the official logo for the Winter Olympics in Sochi Russia in 2014.
See the difference? The little .ru? The organisers managed to not only provide great branding opportunity for Sochi, but they also managed to capture the essence of promoting the whole nation in that little .ru. The cost of the project has not been disclosed, but the President of the Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, Dmitry Chernyshenko, said that the brand logo cost the Organizing Committee of Sochi 2014 less than “our colleagues from London”, who, according to some accounts, spent £400.000 on the emblem for the Games this summer. Money well spent?
Klara Lettavova
Latest posts by Klara Lettavova (see all)
- London Olympics 2012: Missed opportunity in online advertising? - August 3, 2012
