There's still 869 days to go before the flame is lit in London's Olympic stadium, signalling the start of the 2012 Olympic games, but for sponsors of the biggest event on the sporting calendar, the race to make an impression is already under way.
With athletes and organizers still nursing jet lag following the recent Winter Games in Vancouver, global brands and corporate partners are putting in the hard yards two years ahead of time in an effort to make the most of their involvement.
Advertising experts say sponsors should be building toward the big event now since their success will hinge on devising a clear statement to make with their Olympic campaigns.
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Fireworks are set off from the BT Tower in London recently to mark 1,000 days until the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic games.
"Although activation will only start to become more visible by the end of this year, it's not too early for sponsors to start," says Shaun Whatling, chief executive of the London-based Redmandarin agency.
Unlike advertising, he says the "essence of sponsorship" is about engaging with the community rather than just delivering a message. "Sponsorship gives brands another opportunity, outside of traditional sales communications, to demonstrate their continuing relevance to the lives of consumers as a business. This is their first challenge," he says.
Some U.K. sponsors have launched community programs already.
EDF Energy, the U.K. arm of Electricité de France SA, for example, has started an education program called the Pod and runs an annual Green Britain Day to encourage people to reduce Britain's carbon footprint by 2012. The firm sponsored its first event this past summer. Meanwhile, BP PLC is sponsoring the London 2012 Young Leaders Program, which is designed to give a group of disadvantaged youths the chance to volunteer in their communities with the help of athletes as mentors.
Separately, telecom company BT Group PLC is documenting the stories behind the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games through a photography exhibition organized by London's National Portrait Gallery. The exhibition will host 100 photos that celebrate those people—both high-profile and those working behind the scenes—who collectively make the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games happen.
For some firms, the Olympics couldn't have come at a better time. Lloyds TSB Bank PLC, the first U.K. partner to sign up for London 2012 sponsorship, was at the heart of the financial crisis in Britain. The bank, which was involved in a multimillion-pound bailout by U.K. taxpayers in 2008, was part of an industry that was exposed to greater scrutiny and a lack of confidence from the general public.
Despite the downturn, the bank says it didn't change its approach to sponsoring the games.
"We have a very defendable and sound approach even in a period of change," says Sally Hancock, the bank's Olympic marketing director. "We are contributing to people at a community level—not at an elite level—which has made our message more relevant now."
Some of the activations already in place include the local heroes and the loan and support for small businesses initiatives.
Ms. Hancock says that although Lloyds TSB is flexible in its sponsorship plans, not even one of the deepest economic downturns in history made the bank shift its strategy or rethink its decision to join the Olympic games. "We still would have come to the same decision," she said, "because this is the best possible opportunity we could have."
She is aware that as the games get closer, more sponsors will battle to make themselves heard and it will get "noisy," so the bank is taking the lead to make sure "people understand that we are a partner and why."
Yet, Lloyds TSB will find it harder to maximize its return, according to Pippa Collett, managing director at Sponsorship Consulting in London. "Being a sponsor is on-strategy for them, but it will be harder to maximize their return simply because of the economic environment: People are not changing their financial-service products as they would have done historically."
Ms. Collett says companies need to move away from their planning phase and start implementation. "Sponsors have about two years to really gain a return from their involvement," she says. "If we reach the games and they haven't extracted ultimate value, then it will too late."
She says London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (Locog) had time on its side when recruiting sponsors. London won its bid against Paris to host the Olympic games on July 6, 2005, and although it only had two partners signed up by July 2007, organizers already had started negotiations with possible sponsors before the credit crunch hit. Locog has so far recruited 26 local sponsors.
"London 2012 has done the majority of sponsorship recruitment. Even if they get no more sponsors at this point, they could probably reach their £2 billion target through ticketing and merchandising," Ms. Collett says.
Organizers say they are still working on getting more partners.
Although local sponsors are more active at the moment, international companies will take a major presence, but much closer to the games. The International Olympic Committee, which organizes the Olympic games and has 205 members, has nine major international partners, each worth a reported $100 million.
Even if these major brands, such as soft-drink giant Coca-Cola and watch-maker Omega, aren't as involved in activating their sponsorships yet, they will be looking to have more tactical presence closer to the games, Ms. Collett adds.
And the financial crisis has had some impact in the way sponsors lay out their strategy.
Suzi Williams, director of Group Marketing and Brand for BT, says the company's budget was impacted following the crisis. She says the recession "made us more rigorous in the way we spend our money but [it also] made us more focused on our internal activation."
Ms. Williams says BT's initial decision to become an Olympic sponsor of was prompted by a desire to "transform the brand. We want people to feel warmer about BT."
She says that whereas some other sponsors will be looking to make an impact early on, like the athletes currently in training, BT's focus is on delivering once the Games roll around.
Write to Javier Espinoza at javier.espinoza@wsj.com
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