Tag Archives: olympics

Us Against The World

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October 21, 2011

It’s official.  What’s Hot is excited about 2012.  Next year we are going to witness an abundance of media creativity in the UK. How can it not be exciting when we have the Euros, the Olympics, and even a Jubilee to plan around?

 So first, the numbers.  The latest Bellwether Report showed that despite a drop in marketing executives’ confidence, marketing spend has been revised upwards in Q3 2011.  It seems that many UK companies are increasing marketing spend in an effort to boost sales, and the main beneficiaries are online, direct marketing and sales promotion (all media channels that deliver the immediate returns to advertisers).  We estimate that 2011 ad revenue will be 2% higher than 2010.  The biggest growth sectors so far have been cars and telecoms (+10%), while Government spend has declined by 33% and Retail by 13%. Our forecast for the whole of 2012 is that ad revenue will increase by 4%.  The overall buoyancy masks a number of conflicting trends, such as a predicted 8% growth in Digital compared with 4% decline in Press.

So, what of the events?  The first big one is the Silver Jubilee and another Bank Holiday in early June.  The Royal Wedding this year took a few people by surprise, as the nation was gripped by royal family fever, or at least excited with the extra time off work.  And with it came a few smart marketing initiatives such as T Mobile’s great viral, currently at 25 million views on YouTube and still growing.  We are anticipating lots of Jubilee-inspired media campaigns in 2012.

Euro 2012 kicks off in Warsaw in June and, with apologies to our Scottish and Welsh readers, we are expecting a great tournament and a boost to the ad market, particularly  for ITV who will share the broadcast rights with the BBC.  Following this, the first British Olympics since 1948 will commence on July 22nd.  The BBC will of course have exclusive TV rights for the games.  Interestingly Channel 4 has purchased the rights for the Paralympics in August and You Tube will stream highlights of the Games to countries all over the world as part of an IOC deal.

The Press media owners have some interesting Olympics plans, including Metro and City AM planning weekend editions (Metro’s will be London-only and they are suggesting a print run of 350,000 copies).  The Outdoor market will be even more dynamic.  Vicinity sites in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle and Coventry will be exclusively sold to official Olympic sponsors and the auction process for this is already underway.  Meanwhile new non-exclusive space is becoming available around the new transport, new Central London experiential spaces and Westfield.  Poster companies are predicting 2012 revenue growth  of 15% – one of the biggest growth years ever.

So, 2012 is going to be crammed with exciting new media opportunities, increasing advertising budgets and three major events to give advertisers the opportunity to keep their communications absolutely up-to-the-minute.   It’s going to be a great year to remember in marketing.

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Relight My Fire

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June 23, 2011

So, our bids for tickets turned to dust. Our chances of seeing the games in our own city are marginally below the odds Will Hill is giving on Ryan Giggs’ knighthood. Surely, at least, we can buy some advertising around this once in a lifetime opportunity?

Well, yes…or no…or perhaps…

The good news for advertisers around the Olympics is not just the expansion of London and UK audiences, but also the new inventory coming into the market, much of which will have real legacy value. This new inventory ranges from Westfield Stratford through to some unique spaces that have never previously carried ads, such as boats on the Thames through to wrapping the exterior of the tower at Canary Wharf.

When it comes to the Olympics, only one media channel will truly dominate – and it’s outdoor. While all of the London media will benefit to some extent, outdoor can get closer, and on a larger and more impactful scale than any other channel. Virtually every spectator will travel to the games via public transport – which makes them even easier to target, without needing to analyse complex journeys and arrival points. And, to be fair, the poster industry has responded by investing in new inventory, especially digital formats, to enable smart and tactical messaging.

But it’s the Olympics and advertisers, like the public, need to get their heads around a complex bidding system to win the best space. The process for poster space began in April, and of course event sponsors are first in the queue.

LOCOG is giving priority to the Olympic sponsors, starting with the top 18 brands. There are seven domestic Tier One partners – Adidas, BMW , BP, British Airways, BT, EDF and Lloyds TSB. Each of them has paid between £40million and £80 million for the right to be an Olympic sponsor. There are also 11 worldwide partners including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Procter & Gamble, Visa and. The second tier of lower-ranking sponsors will join the process at a later date.

The very best London outdoor sites, termed “vicinity” and “spectacular”, will be sold to the highest bidder. Examples include a brand domination of St Pancras Station (a key rail link to the Olympic Park), a series of posters along the A4 Cromwell Road, and some big digital towers next to the elevated M4 motorway from Heathrow.

One of the challenges for those advertisers who couldn’t afford the price tag to be an event sponsor is the 300 metre exclusion zone. This means that any site within 300 metres of the location of any Olympic event cannot be sold to any advertiser that is not an official sponsor during the 12 week Olympic period. The rule is in place to prevent ambush marketing campaigns, but our view is that it will have a fundamental effect on the outdoor market, not least because events in The Mall, Earls Court and Hyde Park mean that the 300M zone extends to a number of central London tube stations and main line termini.

Our advice? Plan it early – the Olympics will fundamentally change the landscape of the UK media market – particularly in London, and particularly in Outdoor. But buy smart. As with any market, new inventory and new short term regulation creates as many troughs as peaks. It’s possible to win this race without coming first.
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