Sponsorship agencies say Olympics info is inadequate

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (Locog) has been slammed by sponsorship agencies for its failure to communicate with the industry.

Rupert Pratt, managing partner at sponsorship agency Generate, says Locog is failing to provide any meaningful information on possible partnership opportunities and clients are increasingly frustrated at the lack of information being made available.

Locog has broken its sponsorship into three tiers – tier one (cash sponsorship deals, which it is concentrating on this year), tier two (consisting of both value-in-kind and cash deals) and tier three (official supplier partnerships).

Agencies will become more involved in the process for tiers two and three but say they are increasingly being asked for information by clients and are failing to receive adequate answers.

David Peters, head of sponsorship at Carat, says although he has had no problems dealing with Locog, there is not enough detailed information forthcoming.

He adds: “The opportunity they are missing out on is another sales channel for them. If agencies know the details of what is available they will be more proactive at putting details in front of clients.”

A Locog spokeswoman denies the organisation has failed to provide sufficient information and says representatives have been on the speaking circuit promoting the opportunities.

She says: “Our priority this year is completely tier one and we have only been speaking with agencies that have contacted us wanting information on the top tier.”

She adds that London 2012 games are five years away, with the Beijing Olympics preceding them in 2008, and that Locog will not start work in earnest on signing partners for tiers two and three until next year.