Olympics craze: a fillip for licensing

Many of us have attended an event in our past, which we have enjoyed so much that we purchased a souvenir to bring home. Companies have historically used sponsorship to take advantage of the positive association and feelings that avid fans get from attending events. Organising committees that typically manage the execution of an event look for sponsors and television networks to offset the cost of the event.  In this arrangement, the sponsor benefits when he utilises an association with the event to drive sales of his products.  However, this association is typically short lived.  Having executed Coca-Cola’s Olympic licensing and pin trading programmes in Vancouver, using products made with RPET (plastic bottles) and other recycled content, and also helped Coke with its retail programme for Expo 2010 in Shanghai (among other clients), I understand the associations in context and the role played by cashing in on the emotional quotient of the target audiences.

 

Identifying opportunities

Companies are now beginning to see opportunities to use their brands to extend the connection between fans and the events by creating co-branded (sponsor + event marks) merchandise.  Co-branded event licensing programmes offer tremendous benefits including exposure for the brand, the opportunity to reinforce a corporate message, marketing support for the core business and the chance to satisfy fans/consumers to memorialise the event. Not only this, but this comes all the while, accompanied by generating royalty revenue as well.

 

Coca Cola and Olympics

We can take Coca-Cola as an ideal example here. Coca-Cola has been synonymous with the Olympics since 1928 and has had a co-branded merchandise programme during each game since 1988 when it opened its first pin trading centre in Calgary, Canada.  Our company worked on the Coca-Cola Vancouver 2010 co-branded licensing programme for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games held in February 2010.  The programme, which integrated sustainability, supported one of Coca-Cola’s important platforms. The primary objectives of the programme were to:

  1. Drive the sale of Coca-Cola Vancouver 2010 merchandise via the Olympic Super Store, Official Olympic retail stores and through www.Vancouver2010.com
  2. Reinforce Coca-Cola’s sustainability message through sale of merchandise made with recycled material and contributions to the World Wildlife Fund.

 

Categories

The programme had a total of eight categories of merchandise including apparel, commemorative bottles, beverageware, key chains, lanyards, magnets, pins, and playing cards. Six licensees were engaged for the programme. In keeping with sustainability, all apparel was made with RPET (Recycled Polyethylene) and the tees features RPET messaging. The key chains, lanyards, magnets, pins, and playing cards were made with recycled metal and paper. The beverageware and commemorative bottles were fully recyclable and all packaging was made with recycled paper.

 

What it did for Coca-Cola?

Through this programme, Coca-Cola was able to reinforce the associative imagery of the event with the Coca-Cola brand in a powerful and distinctive way.  It created a permanent connection with the consumer around a significant experience and strengthened the core “sustainability” messaging. To put this in perspective, most Fortune 500 marketers spend thousands of dollars on event marketing programme that attempt to create a lasting impression between the fans and their brands.  In most cases, the impressions generated from these activities are fleeting and almost never generate any revenue.

The programme benefited the stakeholders as well:

  1. The licensees got the opportunity to generate additional revenue, fill excess capacity and acquire experience for future event licenses
  2. The event organiser gained further exposure and additional marketing support with a minimal amount of involvement - most of the burden was carried by Coca-Cola
  3. The event retailer obtained additional product mix attracting a broader set of consumers while increasing traffic to their stores through sponsor related marketing activities and programmes.

 

Timeline involved

Licensing Brands began work on this project in May 2009 with ten months to get product into market, a period significantly lower than recommended.

Our key takeaways from the programme were:

  1. Start at least two and a half years in advance (see recommended timeline below)
  2. Integrate the event licensing programme with the overall sponsorship marketing plan
  3. Clearly define the process from the beginning
  4. Develop design guidelines before product concept development
  5. Ensure licensees have rights to the broadest distribution possible to maximise sales and minimise inventory
  6. Make the event retailer responsible for promoting merchandise as well.

Having explained the timeline, it is clear that despite the shortened timeframe, we were able to help Coca-Cola achieve all their objectives.

 

Recommended Timeline of Events

 

 

The author is Founder of Licensing Brands, Inc. The company is dedicated to helping brand owners and manufacturers harness the power of brand extensions through licensing.

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