The 2006 winter Olympic games are less than two months away. If you’re a worldwide Olympics sponsor, right now you’re probably gearing up for a big, integrated campaign that capitalizes on the valuable sponsorship you’ve obtained, knowing you’ll get great mileage out of having the exclusive right to associate your brand with all of the emotion and excitement that surrounds the Olympics. Even if you haven’t bought the right to call yourself an “official” sponsor, you may be wondering if there is any way that you can get a piece of the action as well.
Sports sponsorships are big business. The Olympics — as well as many teams and leagues — generate huge revenues from their partnerships with advertisers, who have made major investments in these sponsorships. The brands that don’t have sponsorships, but that are hoping to promote themselves by associating themselves with the Olympics, or another team, league, or event, are often called “ambush” or “parasitic” marketers. In order to protect sponsorship revenues, and to protect the relationships with official sponsors, the Olympics and other sports organizations have aggressively gone after ambush marketers that they believe are violating their rights. If you’re planning a campaign that plays off of a big sporting event, it’s very important to understand when ambush marketing can cross the line.
Is there confusion?
If you’re an ambush marketer, the first thing that you have to watch out for is creating the false impression that you’re an official sponsor, which can violate federal laws governing advertising. If your advertising uses the NFL’s trademarks, or includes a SuperBowl related promotion, for example, consumers may believe that you’re an NFL sponsor. Even advertising that features football players in generic uniforms, who are getting ready for the “big game” this February, could lead to a complaint from the NFL, if the NFL believes that consumers will think that the advertising was authorized.
What about tickets?
Some ambush marketers plan promotions around big sporting events, where the grand prize is a trip to the city where the event is taking place, and of course tickets to the big event. In addition to the risk that you may create confusion about whether you’re an official sponsor, you should also watch out for the terms on the back of tickets, which often prohibit them from being used for this purpose. Typical language on the back of the tickets reads something like this: “tickets may not be used for commercial, advertising, or other promotional purposes” without written permission. This isn’t just fine print. Sports organizations have aggressively enforced these restrictions.
What about the Olympics?
Because of the importance of sponsor support of the Olympic games, federal law gives special protection to the Olympics. Ambush marketers are prohibited from using the words “Olympic” and “Olympiad,” as well as the five interlocking rings (and certain other Olympics-related words and symbols), for basically any purpose, regardless of whether consumers would be confused about whether the ambush marketer is actually a sponsor. Federal law also prohibits the use of any other trademark, trade name, sign, symbol, or insignia that falsely represents association with, or authorization by, the Olympics.
Some ambush marketers may try to get around this by hiring an Olympic athlete to star in their commercials. Even if an athlete agrees to appear in your advertising, you still need the Olympics’ permission to use the word “Olympics.” And you’d better have something else to run during the Games — since Olympics rules specifically prohibit competing athletes from appearing in advertising while the Olympic Games are taking place (unless you’ve obtained permission from the Olympics, which isn’t likely to be granted to an ambush marketer).
Before heading to the pre-pro meeting this winter for that next big ambush marketing campaign, you might want to bring these rules with you. In fact, don’t leave home without them.
This column presents a general discussion of legal issues, but is not legal advice, and may not be applicable in all situations. Consult your attorney for legal advice.
Jeffrey A. Greenbaum ESQ. is a partner at Frankfurt Kurnit Klein & Selz, New York. If you have a suggestion for a topic to be covered in a future column, send an e-mail to jagreenbaum@fkks.com
