Pilot project relaxes Olympic Games' rule for participating brands

Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter sets out how athletes (and brands, both official Olympic partners and non-partners) can commercialise their name, image and sporting performance during a “blackout period” before and during the Games. The blackout period before the Paris Games starts tomorrow (18 July).

The rules during this blackout period are very strict, particularly for non-Olympic partners. Brands face restrictions in respect of their use of Olympic Properties in advertising (such as the Olympic symbol, any Games specific logos, mascots, and words such as OLYMPIC and OLYMPIC GAMES, for example) including in respect of congratulatory messages to their sponsored athletes and teams.

However, this year the Olympic Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and the World Federation of Sporting Goods Industry (WFSGI) have implemented a new Pilot Project, under which a limited number of participating sporting goods brands will be subject to less strict restrictions when promoting athletes before and during the Paris 2024 Games. 

The relaxation of rules now means that participating brands are, for example, able to use official Olympic still images of their sponsored athlete/NOC team as part of congratulatory advertising on permitted channels (for example, social media), use Olympic-related hashtags, and use wordmarks such as “Olympian” for editorial purposes only. 

Participants in the “Road to Paris 2024” project include sporting goods giants such as Nike, Adidas, ASICS, New Balance, Puma, Speedo and Under Armour. The 17 participating brands will be able to, for example, use #Paris2024 or #Team[NOC] in relation to their sponsored athletes or NOC teams.  The new flexibility applies to a wide variety of media channels, such as social media, brand events involving athletes and/or teams, newsletters, PR interviews (only in relation to an athlete’s story, and not in relation to a specific product), billboards and retail stores. 

The project applies to content produced both during and in the lead up to the Games, and brands have already been ramping up their marketing efforts ahead of the start of the Paris Games at the end of the month. This week, Nike launched a new “Art of Victory” exhibition at the Centre Pompidou and, earlier in the year, Puma launched a campaign in partnership with a number of top athletes including the pole-vault world record holder, Armand Duplantis. 

Nike in particular is known for its ambush marketing tactics at major sporting events, such as the ‘Find Your Greatness’ campaign during the London 2012 Olympic Games. It will be interesting to see whether the relaxation of rules reduces any instances of ambush marketing during the blackout period now that some of the world's largest sporting goods brands are able to support their athletes and NOC teams on a broader scale than was previously permitted.