One of the challenges our team have had to face this year is creating Olympic themed marketing materials, without encroaching on the Olympic branding guidelines.
To protect the value of the Olympic and London 2012 brands, the guidelines are extremely strict – the use of any of the Games’ Marks is only permitted with the authorisation of London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) and is generally reserved for licensees and sponsors.
Our client Teignbridge Council was keen to celebrate the Olympic Torch being carried into Teignmouth and the activities in the town that were planned alongside this. Bigwave were asked to create a flyer and two banners for the event and were supplied with some imagery (including a picture of the torch), which the client had been supplied by the Olympic Committee. We produced a design working in line with the branding guidelines to ensure no infringement and using the picture of the torch and logo as supplied to Teignbridge District Council (TDC) by the Olympic Committee.
While the committee supplied the image and logo TDC still could not reference the Olympics, use the icons or terminology that had been trademarked around it.
The client approached us about the flyer at the end of April and working to our set Service Level Agreement (SLA) we got the first proof of the flyer to our client within four working days. TDC then had to get everything checked by the Olympic Brand Committee, which took 10 days. By this time, it was urgent to get it amended and turned around for the 20th May – the day the torch relay was entering Teignmouth.
The amended proof was completed within one working day and the design of the flyer was signed off by TDC on the 14th May and we then designed two banners using a similar design. The banners were turned around in record time; designed, approved and amended within 3 days to have them ordered on the 17th May for arrival by the 20th May.
Teignbridge Council were really pleased with the result, saying:
“Thanks for pulling out all the stops and getting the designs sorted under such pressured deadlines. The banners and leaflets were awesome – way better than other local authority designs.”
This shows that it is possible to create successful marketing materials to promote your Olympic events – you just need to follow the guidelines!
We would suggest anyone looking to run any events in connection with the Olympics to contact the Olympic branding team direct www.london2012.com/brandprotection