08 Sep 2010 | Mike Baker

London Olympics 2012: Outdoor advertising will be out there each and every day, live and on the spot, visible and unavoidable

Mike Baker, chief executive officer of the Outdoor Advertising Assocation, explains why the 2012 London Olympics will be a “media extravaganza” for outdoor advertising.

London is now just under 700 days away from hosting the greatest show on earth. Comparisons with the previous London Olympics are pretty much meaningless. In 1948, only 59 countries participated. Japan and Germany were not invited. No Olympic Village was erected; the male athletes lived at an army camp in Uxbridge and the women were housed at Southlands College in dormitories.

And with rationing still in force, in order to limit the United Kingdom’s responsibility to feed the 4,000 athletes, it was agreed that the participants would bring their own food. On the media front, there was precious little broadcast coverage – just press, some radio, and Pathé news summaries in your local cinema.

London 2012, in contrast, will be a true world event, experienced live and kicking across the globe, with a real-time audience of hundreds of millions, possibly billions, who will follow the Games’ every nuance. As many of us Tube travelers already know to our cost with all the weekend closures, the UK’s capital is being transformed through a £6billion investment to deliver transport infrastructure commensurate with a world class games. Fabulous new stadia are on their way, as are new stations and rolling stock.

“For those of us in outdoor, it’s an incredible thrill to get so much privileged attention…”

More than any time in its history, London will be the focus of the entire world. Britain’s capital has never captured so much of the world’s attention before, not even for the coronation. It will be a media extravaganza.

One medium in particular has been preparing since 2004. And no, it’s not TV, it’s outdoor advertising. Since Atlanta, the IOC’s preoccupation has been to protect the sponsors’ interests during the Games and to prevent ambush. For that reason, well before the London bid went in, outdoor suppliers were required to make commitments regarding their 2012 prices to allow priority access to their media assets by sponsors, and to avoid any price gouging.

Now, a full six years later, the latest development is to finalise the 2012 outdoor packages and set inflation-controlled prices so that the currently 44 sponsorship “partners” can have first dibs of the media available. Following a shop window period when they can make their planning decisions, this will take place in an orderly process, the details of which are soon to be outlined by LOCOG, with the 18 top tier partner brands likely to have priority. Sites will be designated by their formats, their quality and location, and the purchasing method may well entail a combination of auction and flat rate purchase. The pre-selection programme will be completed by June 2011.

This will ensure a fair process and equal opportunities to build visible brand presence on the ground. For those of us in outdoor, it’s an incredible thrill to get so much privileged attention. Do the UK’s radio stations, newspapers, consumer magazines, TV, get controlled and scrutinized and rationed out in this way? Not at all – because for the vast majority of visitors to the city, those media will not be what they consume.

“However it pans out, the Olympics seem likely to be good for business… By June 30th 2011, a full year before the Games begin, the sponsors will have taken their pick of what they need…”

But outdoor will be out there each and every day, live and on the spot, visible and unavoidable, reinforcing advertisers’ brand values loudly and proudly to an incremental audience of millions. The IOC apparently likes to see the Olympic city visually “owned” by sponsor advertising. It redoubles the effect of the sponsorship itself and the importance of the Games to the local economy. And there’s nothing that plays more to the power of the outdoor medium.

However it pans out, the Olympics seem likely to be good for business. Like the upfronts in US TV sales, there are prospects for a substantial quantity of inventory to be presold in this way, firming up the market and creating scarcity at the same time. By June 30th 2011, a full year before the Games begin, the sponsors will have taken their pick of what they need (whether roadside, taxis, airports, spectaculars, rail, bus, retail, leisure or Underground sites).

And when they have done so, price inflation can then be allowed to take its natural course: the UK’s outdoor market 2012 will be open for business.

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