How Lloyds TSB is overcoming the ‘no branding’ Olympics challenge
When you become an Olympic sponsor, you do not buy a media package like you might at the football or rugby world cups. It is a clean-venue scenario [where no branding is allowed in the arenas]. You have to find other channels and you have five years to leverage the opportunities, the marques and the values of the Olympic association.
Advertising, the way I relate to it, tells you the price, the product and where to buy it. At this point, our sponsorship will probably not tell you any of that. It will tell you this is the brand, this is what it stands for, this is how it relates to you and your community.
When we became a sponsor, it was seen as part of our marketing. It was a five-and-a-half-year deal and the costs and the return were seen as part of a marketing strategy over that period of time – part of the whole advertising mix above the line and below the line. We do not relate to sport as a particularly special asset, versus the arts or any other sector. We are at the moment looking at our strategy for 2013, and beyond, and that includes all sectors. It is not limited to sport.
Lloyds TSB Olympic stats
- 70% of Lloyds TSB customers are aware Lloyds TSB is a partner to London 2012.
- Of those aware, 40% are more likely to recommend the brand as a result of its partnership programmes.
- One in three of the £3bn worth of London 2012 contracts have been awarded to Lloyds TSB business customers.
Source: Lloyds TSB
