A revealing statistic from an interview with the IOC’s Marketing Director Timo Lumme in this month’s SportBusiness:

‘The sheer volume of [London 2012] sponsor activity presented challenges, particularly for the team responsible for signing-off on the use of Olympic marks and imagery. This time around they had to deal with 25,000 different partner activations, that is more than double the number for Beijing.’

More than double. And this despite Beijing 2008 having 12 TOP sponsors to London’s 11.

Assuming that Timo is only talking about TOPs, that works out at an average of around 2,500 activations per TOP for London 2012 versus an average of around 1,000 for Beijing 2008. Remarkable. Why did this happen and what conclusions can we draw?

I’d suggest three in particular.

1. China Crisis. Owing to China’s human rights record, Beijing 2008 was highly controversial, with the Torch Relay in particular the target for headline-making worldwide protests, which subsequently led to the IOC restricting the Relay to the host country from 2010. As a consequence, many Olympic partners were understandably reluctant to run Beijing-themed global promotions and concentrated their efforts inside China.

London 2012, in marked contrast, presented no such issues, with many sponsors, for example Coca-Cola’s ‘Move To The Beat’ campaign, making London the thematic centrepiece of global campaigns. Result? Far more sponsor activity around London than around Beijing.

We concluded that for the first time social media would be one of the Games sponsors’ key activation channels, which was subsequently borne out by the explosion of social activity during London 2012. This would seem to be the second major factor behind the upweight in TOP activation.

3. Procter & Gamble. New to the TOP programme for London 2012, P&G created a veritable storm of activity around the Games, to the extent that at times it felt impossible to avoid. Crucially, however, in this context, they activated not just around the P&G corporate brand (the strategy for which I’ve written about before, for example here and here) but globally across 34 of their brands.

By Tim Crow on September 11th, 2012

Tags: Beijing 2008, Default, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympic Torch Relay, Olympics, Rio 2016, Rio 2016 Sponsorship, Rio 2016 Sponsorship Consultants, Sochi 2014, Socialympics, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultants, Team GB, Vancouver 2010

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As the first truly social Olympic and Paralympic Games come to a close, we take a look back at the Games according to Twitter – exploring who generated the most conversation, who gained the most followers and what impact winning a medal does for your popularity in the social sphere.

Social media became such a large part of the Games for athletes, journalists and fans alike that one Australian bookmaker even went as far as to offer odds on who would gain the most Twitter followers over the course of the London 2012. If you had the foresight to put some cash on Tom Daley, rest assured you will see a nice return on your investment.

Despite Michael Phelps leaving his final Olympic Games as the most decorated Olympian of all time with 22 medals, his gain of a ‘meagre’ 950,000 Twitter followers (an increase of 293%), was only enough to bag him a silver medal in the social media stakes. In the end  Daley took the gold, winning more than 1 million new followers over the course of the London 2012 (an increase of 275%).

Daley’s meteoric social rise was triggered by two events. The first of these sadly brings to light one of the negative aspects of the medium, when a user cruelly invoked the name of Daley’s late father after he failed to medal in the Synchronised Diving – sending Tom’s following up 300,000 to almost one million in just a couple of days, as people rallied in support. The second was Daley’s impressive bronze in the individual competition towards the end of the second week, which took the number up past 1.3 million.

There were also other significant movers across the rest of Team GB. Jessica Ennis picked up almost 500,000 new followers as she stormed her way to Heptathlon gold, while Bradley Wiggins followed his success in the Tour de France with an Olympic gold medal, picking up 230,000 fans in the process. Double gold medallist Mo Farah increased his Twitter fan base by 220,000, while Andy Murray’s gold and silver medals saw him pick up more than 100,000 new followers.

Of course, not all athletes in Team GB were members of Twitter prior to the Games; in fact, only 52.7% had active accounts before the Opening Ceremony. Incredibly, by the Closing Ceremony, 73.6% of Team GB athletes had signed up, with Jason Kenny (who didn’t have an account until 9 August) gaining nearly 30,000 followers in the two days up to the end of the Games.

So, what does a medal get you in terms of followers? Looking at a sample of 27 British medal-winning athletes, we explored the uplift in followers that an athlete gained from the Opening Ceremony up until directly after their first medal win. This averaged out at an incredible 57% per athlete. Among our sampled athletes, Anthony Ogogo led the way with an increase of 324%,  to reach more than 24,000 followers – albeit from a low base. This was  followed by Tom Daley who increased his following by 258% to over 1.3m – although as discussed there were other contributing factors to this rise. Next was Louis Smith who saw an impressive 124% increase and Ben Ainslie, who increased his following by 122% after his first medal to 22,000, which has since risen above 40,000.

According to stats released by Twitter, more than 150 million tweets were sent about the Olympics in total and perhaps unsurprisingly, diver Tom Daley topped the list of British athletes discussed on the site, with more than 1 million mentions. Overall, and again unsurprisingly, the most tweeted about athlete was Usain Bolt, with Michael Phelps second and Tom Daley and Ryan Lochte third and fourth respectively.

Despite the countless incredible sporting stories over the Games, the Great British public’s appetite for the ‘celebrity’ still burned strong, with the Spice Girls reunion somehow managing to rack up more tweets than during any of Usain Bolt’s or Mo Farah’s gold medal winning races, with a staggering 116,000 tweets per minute – or roughly 2,000 tweets per second. Although, to put this is some context, the most simultaneously tweeted-about event was the televised screening of a Japanese anime film in 2011 – Castle in the Sky – which registered 25,088 tweets in a single second. There’s no accounting for taste…

And so to Rio. With 33.3 million Twitter users and counting, Brazil currently stands 2^nd behind the United States in active Twitter users, after recently overtaking Japan. As users from across the globe, and, in particular from emerging markets, continue to flock to Twitter, Rio 2016 has the opportunity to learn lessons from London to deliver the most socially shared event to date.

By Tom Whiteside on September 10th, 2012

Tags: Brazil, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Team GB, Twitter

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I was lucky enough to go the Men’s All Round Individual Gymnastics Final with my mum and brother yesterday to cheer on our fantastic Team GB bronze medallists Kristian Thomas and Daniel Purvis, and was interested to see how ‘O2’ the Arena was going to be, despite the non-sponsor blackout.

The venue is obviously unique – not just because of the naming rights situation and the Arena’s extensive portfolio of brand partners but also because, unlike the other Olympic venues in London, The O2 and all other attractions inside it are open to the public as usual throughout the Games. So, as we enjoyed our supper in Strada under the shadow of the Gymnastics entrance (which seemed as though we were breaking some kind of LOCOG rule!), there seemed to be plenty of people walking around who did not have tickets for the Gymnastics enjoying the Arena’s many bars (not serving Heineken), restaurants (with no Golden Arches in sight) and 11-screen cinema.

As anyone who has been to an event at the Arena knows, there is a huge amount of O2 branding around and whilst the majority of this has been taken down (including the large sign below), after we walked through the Olympic security, perhaps inevitably, there was still plenty of uncovered O2 signage about.

I’m sure that the (much discussed) success of O2′s sponsorship means that for most British visitors this fortnight, they are already well aware of the ‘real’ name of the venue and understand the reason for the name change, so O2 are probably not losing too much sleep over the temporarily enforced title. As this media piece shows, even during the Games, The O2 brand is still getting free media coverage.

I also believe the smooth running and great atmosphere of the Olympic events at The O2 will have encouraged more return visits once the Games are over.

The only notable example of experiential activity I saw yesterday came from Nissan (interestingly, one of the manufacturers originally interested in sponsoring the Games themselves), who have had a permanent ‘Innovation Station’ in the Arena since October 2010. This was perhaps the best illustration of the unique nature of the venue and surely the only one where non-sponsor brands have been able to avoid the much-maligned scrutiny of the LOCOG brand police due to their long-running AEG deals.

All of this meant that our North Greenwich Arena experience felt slightly less ‘Olympic’ compared to my trip to the ExCel for the Boxing earlier in the week, but certainly no less enjoyable.

By Matt Kiernan on August 2nd, 2012

Tags: Ambush campaign, Default, Experiential marketing, London 2012 sponsorship, Naming Rights, Sponsorship, Team GB

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With Team GB’s first gold medals won, national attention is naturally focused on GB’s Olympians. So this seems like the perfect time to reveal our analysis of brands’ GB athlete endorsement strategies, and to unveil our latest Synergy infographic - Synfographic - to the purpose.

We’ve looked at a group of 45 brands using current and former Olympians and Paralympians. The group comprises:

- Global and domestic sponsors of London 2012

- Major GB sport sponsors which aren’t London 2012 sponsors

- Other non-sponsor brands leveraging athletes in their marcomms

This revealed a total of 404 individual agreements and, if taking into consideration athletes such as Jessica Ennis or Louis Smith who have multiple sponsorship deals, endorsement of 267 unique individuals.

It is worth noting that whilst we have factored in Lloyds TSB’s support of athletes across GB via the organisation’s Local Heroes programme, the figure of 404 agreements does not take these numbers into account. Similarly, neither do the figures quoted incorporate Visa’s sponsorship of the Team 2012 programme. Both these programmes are based on the brands creating or sponsoring group athlete support systems, whereas we wanted to analyse brands’ strategies for individual endorsements - brands that have taken on the challenge (and the risks) onus of selecting, contracting and activating individuals, many several years ago, as part of their London 2012 campaigns.

Risk versus reward: over half of the endorsed athletes have qualified for Team GB and Paralympics GB. 

Whilst you may not be surprised at the dominance of athletics amongst endorsees, the Synfographic does demonstrate that there’s a healthy range of sports sitting beyond the usual suspects, reflecting the diversity of the Olympics and Paralympics.

Men’s deals outnumber women’s by 234 to 170, but the two most popular individuals for sponsors are both women –  Victoria Pendleton and Jessica Ennis. The two most popular men? Louis Smith and Sir Chris Hoy.

Looking at the brands, it’s striking that the seven Tier 1 London 2012 partners are the heaviest endorsers, with 244 agreements in total, an average of 30 per partner, massively outnumbering any other sponsorship tier. Interestingly, non-sponsor brands are the next biggest endorsers, with 91 deals in total, despite the IOC Charter’s Rule 40 restricting leverage of these individuals during Games-time, which has recently been challenged by several US athletes.

One of the major successes in terms of athlete selection has been BMW’s London 2012 Performance Team*. This is a programme that began with the BMW UK’s central sponsorship of 27 athletes, both past and present, and evolved into a dealer-by-dealer support system for local London 2012 hopefuls. The result: BMW and MINI athletes now form 11% of the entirety of Team GB.

The main questions now are which sponsor has backed the most winners, and who’ll be the post-Games winners in the endorsement stakes. After yesterday’s heroics and today’s headlines, Bradley Wiggins is sure to be at the forefront. Let’s hope that Team GB and Paralympics GB produce many more over the next month or so.

* Full disclosure: Synergy is BMW UK’s London 2012 agency

By Jonathan Izzard on August 2nd, 2012

Tags: BMW, BOA, Default, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, London 2012 sponsorship consultants, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympics, Rio 2016, Rio 2016 Sponsorship, Rio 2016 Sponsorship Consultants, Social Media, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Sponsorship consultants, Sport, Synergy, Synfographic, Team GB

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You don’t have to be an Olympic expert to be familiar with the unexpected success story of Vancouver 2010: the red mittens. Over 4 million pairs were sold, and they became the iconic symbol of the Vancouver Games.

Although marketing experts were surprised and somewhat perplexed by the mittens’ unexpected and instantaneous success, there were three really simple contributory factors: the design, the price, and the purpose.

The Design

The Vancouver Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (VANOC) design team initially created the mittens only with the intention of being worn by the 12,000 Torchbearers. However, when the mittens became a massive media hit at the February 2009 unveiling of the Torchbearers’ uniform, VANOC decided to market them more widely – and a media hit became a consumer hit too.

Not only were they practical, but their design – patriotic red in colour, with a Canadian maple leaf on the palm and, crucially, the Olympic rings and ‘Vancouver 2010’ on the face, made them the must-have item to show your support for the home team and for the Games.

The Price

More than just a simple economic equation of supply and demand, the red mittens’ success was also due in large part to their price point: at CA$10 (around £6.30), they were affordable for all, in contrast to previous official items that had been very much at the premium end of the price range.

The Purpose

Buying a pair of mittens had a very clear purpose. A percentage of proceeds from the sale of each pair went to support ‘Own the Podium’, a five-year programme designed to fund world class training and equipment for Canadian athletes. Over CA$14m was raised, some of which has helped to send Canadian athletes to London 2012 this summer.

All of which saw huge queues of locals and visitors outside The Hudson Bay Company (the official Team Canada merchandise store of the 2010 Games) from dawn to dusk during the Games.

The Hudson Bay Company store in downtown Vancouver during the 2010 Games (photo: Tim Crow)

A Repeat In London?

In an attempt to replicate the success of mittens, in February 2012 the British Olympic Association (BOA) introduced what it hoped would become the iconic memento of the London Games: a Team GB scarf.

The Team GB scarf as advertised on the Next website

With reports suggesting that sales of the scarf have so far been slow, all the signs are that a repeat of the red Vancouver mittens’ success is not on the cards in London.

Many would suggest this was always going to be the case. Unlike in Vancouver, the BOA did not have the opportunity to use the Olympic Torch Relay as a promotional vehicle, and this will made a tough challenge even tougher.

The red mittens also had a distinct role in Vancouver, and although the weather was unseasonably warm, fans were out in force with the mitten – especially up in Whistler.

The crowd goes wild in Whistler as Alex Bilodeau wins Canada's first gold medal of Vancouver 2010 (photo: Tim Crow)

Equally, given the vagaries of the British climate, predicting the must-have summer item was always going to be considerably more challenging, with, variously, umbrellas and sun creams both feeling like far more ‘must have’ items in the last week or so.

The other major challenge in Britain has been the Jubilympics. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee created a huge oversupply of Union Jack memorabilia, which perhaps satiated the nation’s appetite for even more of the same.

It was unquestionably the people of Canada getting behind the Games that made the red mittens such a success. 

Only time will tell whether the people of Britain finally get behind the Team GB scarf – or perhaps choose something else entirely.

By Synergy on July 30th, 2012

Tags: Art & Design, Beijing 2008, BOA, Default, Design, Diamond Jubilee, London 2012, New Product Development, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic Torch Relay, Olympics, Rio 2016, Sales promotion, Sochi 2014, Social Media, Team GB, Vancouver 2010, Winter Olympics

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There is a large group of Olympic sponsors whose primary objective over the next 17 days is to be brilliant, but invisible: the companies who provide vital Games Time services.

For brands like Atos (IT), BT (communications), Cisco (networks), Omega (timing) and UPS (logistics) the starter’s pistol on their sponsorship fires today. Everything they have done previously has mattered only in being preparation for this point. And if they make headlines in the next 17 days, it will be for one reason only: the Games being badly affected by a problem with their services.

To illustrate the point, all I need to write is G4S. Until a few weeks ago, G4S was familiar only to the big public and private sector buyers of its services, and was hoping to use London 2012 as a showcase to that small but highly lucrative audience. Now, of course, G4S is a household name because it failed to deliver, and the resulting fall-out has been calamitous for its reputation and share price.

In this space, it pays to be invisible. Get it right, and you have a trump card case study in the high-stakes world of big B2B contracts: “If we can do this for the Olympics, the biggest most complex event in the world, imagine what we can do for you.” Get it wrong and you’re where G4S is right now.

All of which reveals other aspects of the widely misunderstood Olympic sponsorship model, and why sponsorship is far more important to the Olympics than is commonly perceived.

The media convey the impression that the Olympic sponsorship model is the same as World Cup sponsorship and the like – a small group of consumer brands paying big money only for marketing rights.

The reality is very different. The Olympic sponsorship model is actually a giant joint venture, with the IOC and the local organising committee outsourcing critical expertise from multiple partners.

Because the Games is the world’s biggest and most complex peacetime operation, it takes far more to deliver it than pure cash. This Atos Olympics ad evokes that perfectly.

That’s why there are so many Olympic sponsors, and why the majority are B2B brands – although every Olympic sponsor, B2C brands included, provides important products and services as part of its sponsorship, without which the Games couldn’t happen.  

And it’s why the majority of Games sponsorship is delivered in the form of ‘value in kind’ (VIK) products and services that are budget-relieving. In the modern era, VIK has consistently contributed the majority of domestic Games sponsorship, and I expect LOCOG’s final accounts to show VIK at 60% of its £700m domestic sponsorship total.

So if you’re ever tempted to join the vociferous chorus of those who criticise Olympic sponsorship, ask yourself this: if the sponsors weren’t there, contributing so importantly behind the scenes, how else would the Greatest Show On Earth be as big and brilliant as it is going to be, once again, in London?

By Tim Crow on July 27th, 2012

Tags: Beijing 2008, Default, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympic Torch Relay, Olympics, Rio 2016, Sochi 2014, Socialympics, Sponsorship, Sponsorship consultancy, Team GB, Vancouver 2010

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Having been privileged to experience numerous Olympic Games at first hand, it’s been especially fascinating to watch my hometown move into Games Time for the first time. As always there have been many similarities with other Games: the highly choreographed sequence of events doesn’t vary too much from Games to Games, or the way the media and public reacts. But there have been differences.

In looking at this, I thought I’d take Vancouver 2010 as my point of reference, because there was much more to learn from open, democratic Vancouver than from closed, autocratic Beijing about how the Games would play out with consumers and the media in London.

So, here’s my take on the similarities and differences between Games Time Vancouver and Games Time London.

1. The Weather

We both obsessed about the weather. In Vancouver, it was all about the snow – or rather, the lack of it. And it never came. Whereas in London of course, it was all about the rain, which looks finally and blessedly to have been replaced by sunshine, and lots of it. At least for now…

2. The Scepticism

As in every Olympic host nation, the “Is It Worth It?’ debate raged long and hard in both Canada and the UK, with the naysayers - led by an overly sceptical national media – shouting loudest. And in both markets, the last week pre-Games saw the national mood move into optimism, reflecting - finally – the huge regional positivity surrounding the Torch Relay everywhere it went.

3. The Nerves

Again as in every host nation, the nerves about being able to successfully stage the world’s biggest event in the full glare of the world’s attention were never far away. The final verdict on Vancouver was that it was a great Games. London will be hoping for at least the same – with the help of, in particular, the weather, the transport and the security, as well as the sport. 

4. The Opening Ceremony

The Opening Ceremony becomes the focus of debate on ceremony day itself. What’s it going to be like? Are the rumours true? Who will light the cauldron? All these questions and more fuel a massive national debate and – immediately afterwards and into the next day – an ever bigger global debate centred on one, single question: was it any good? (See also The Nerves). As it was in Vancouver, so it will be in London.

5. The Socialympics

After closed Beijing, the impact of social media on the Games became a big issue in Vancouver. In London, with social media having gone mainstream globally, it’s already a huge factor – as we were the first to demonstrate and debate back in February during Social Media Week London.

6. The Home Team

A big difference here. Whereas in the UK we’ve been quietly confident about equalling Beijing’s record haul across a range of sports, in Canada only one medal, and one event, really counted: the ice hockey (a national obsession) and the gold – which Canada memorably won at the last gasp, creating wild, joyous (and not a little relieved) national celebrations.

Let’s hope London has moments like those in the next couple of weeks. Enjoy the Games.

By Tim Crow on July 26th, 2012

Tags: Beijing 2008, Default, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, Mobile, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Olympic Torch Relay, Olympics, Sochi 2014, Social Media, Socialympics, Sponsorship, Synergy, Team GB, Twitter, Vancouver 2010

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The Jubilee provided food for thought for some of the key trends to watch during the Olympics – or the Jubilympics, as Twenty Twelve‘s sublime Siobhan Sharpe would of course describe it.

1. London 2012 Will Evolve Britain and Britishness

As I predicted back in January, the story of how Britain re-defines itself and what it means to be British under the global spotlight has been and will continue to be a key trend all year. As I write this, Ed Miliband’s speech about Englishness is making waves. Back in March we had the decidedly mixed reaction to Stella McCartney’s Team GB kit designs for adidas, which of course wasn’t a debate about design but about identity. The Jubilee was always going to be a landmark moment in this story, celebrating Britain at its most traditional. We can of course expect more of the same come Games Time, but watch out too for how the Games showcases more modern and diverse aspects of Britain, and how this evolves ’Britishness’ – both for ourselves, and for the world.

2.  Reflecting The Mood of the Nation Is Vital For Sponsors & Broadcasters

The ability to accurately reflect and leverage the mood of the nation at Games Time is vital to, in particular, the Games’ sponsors (especially the consumer brands) and to its host broadcaster. Get it right, and the overall campaign finishes with a halo and on a high. Get it wrong and – well, you end up with Fearne Cotton and Paloma Faith talking about sick bags featuring the Queen’s face.

3. It Might Rain. In Fact It Probably Will.

Outside of the host country, most Games are only remembered for two or three things at most. Example: Vancouver 2010. If you’re British, I suspect you’ll remember it for some or all of these three things: Amy Williams’ gold medal; the tragic death of Nodar Kumaritashvili; and the fact that it didn’t snow.

It rained – a lot – during the Jubilee long weekend. Let’s hope it doesn’t – too much – during the Games.

4. How Will It Look & How Will We Feel About It?

For better or worse, one of the defining images of the Jubilee was of course the Union Jack. It wasn’t subtle, but it was everywhere.

London 2012 of course has its own version, which differs markedly to the rest of the 2012 visual identity

A defining image of every Olympics in the modern era for the host country is the ‘look and feel’ of the host city at Games time. I’ll be very interested to see how London 2012 renders its visual identity onto London and the country during the Games, if and how consumers adopt and adapt it to their own purposes, and how this ultimately affects the legacy perception of what of course began life as a deeply unpopular logo.

5. Show Me (Don’t Tell Me)

I’ve written before about how well - in striking contrast to the World Cup – the Olympics leverages the suspense of which acts will be playing at the Opening and Closing Ceremonies.

In this respect I thought it was a shame that after the Diamond Jubilee concert Sir Paul McCartney chose to reveal that he would be, as he put it, “closing the opening” of London 2012.

That aside, watching the highlights of the Diamond Jubilee concert, and hearing people talk about it the next day, it struck me again how important ’the show’ – the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, and all the accompanying concerts -is going to be to people’s experience and memory of the Games, not least (picking up on my point above about Britishness) in shaping both Britain and the world’s impressions of what it is to be British.

And on that note, let’s hope that, come July 27, we can do a bit better than this.

6. Expect More Projection Mapping

Unquestionably the big hit of the Diamond Jubilee concert was Madness playing on the roof of Buckingham Palace, which was memorably transformed by some brilliant projection mapping.

Although projection mapping has been out there for a couple of years, this was the first experience of it for most UK consumers who were evidently wowed. Good news for them, because I happen to know that there’s a lot more of the same coming during Games Time.

By Tim Crow on June 7th, 2012

Tags: BBC, Brand marketing, Content, Default, Design, Diamond Jubilee, Digital marketing, Experiential marketing, London 2012, London 2012 sponsorship, London 2012 sponsorship consultants, Music, Olympic sponsorship, Olympic sponsorship consultants, Team GB, Television, Vancouver 2010, Winter Olympics

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At Synergy we live and breathe the need to help our clients create authentic partnerships in order to drive credibility with consumers; so, after 10 years of partnership and the provision of medical cover for over 29,000 treatments, Bupa’s partnership with UK Sport certainly ticks that box.

Prior to 2012, Bupa hadn’t used the partnership in a marketing campaign, spending the last decade quietly helping elite British athletes with their aches, pains and serious injuries. So, our task when we were briefed to create a campaign around Bupa’s partnership with UK Sport was relatively simple: raise awareness of the partnership and deliver the message that Bupa has been treating Great Britain’s elite athletes for the last 10 years.

The integrated roll-out was led by a WCRS-created ad campaign featuring Mo Farah (Athletics), Dan Keatings (Gymnastics), Stef Reid (Paralympic Athletics), Jazz Carlin (Swimming) and Ed Clancy (Cycling), which went live on 1st March 2012. The objective of the PR campaign was to raise the profile of the partnership in the media, clearly demonstrating editorially the role Bupa has played with specific athletes.

The main challenge was a cluttered media landscape containing numerous brands claiming to support British athletes. As such, we knew our campaign had to be creative and true to Bupa’s role, providing human support to thousands of athletes, in order to get cut-through. To launch the partnership we teamed up gymnast Dan Keatings with Britain’s Got Talent winners Spelbound to perform the world’s first ever ‘Human Vault’ in Trafalgar Square. The stunt gave us an impactful picture story and viral to sit alongside interviews with Dan, landing strong messaging in key media including the Daily Mail and The Guardian.

The partnership gives Bupa an opportunity to showcase relevant products and services, which in this campaign saw each of the athletes put through a Bupa Fitness Assessment. The test compared and contrasted the differing fitness attributes of a cyclist (Ed Clancy), to a long distance runner (Mo Farah) and to a swimmer (Jazz Carlin). This allowed us to team athletes up with journalists – gaining coverage and demonstrating that the Bupa Fitness Assessment is relevant for consumers and not just elite athletes.

Bupa created a dedicated microsite to host the details of the partnership, profiles and case studies of the athletes, materials from the launch, Bupa Fitness assessments and relevant Bupa product offerings. The campaign is ongoing, but upon completion there will be over 30 pieces of coverage across print, online and broadcast, raising awareness of Bupa as a partner of UK Sport.

By Adam Raincock on April 17th, 2012

Tags: Athletics, Default, London 2012, PR, Public relations, Sponsorship, Synergy, Team GB

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Staying close to the nationals is standard practice for us here at Synergy, both to keep on top of the zeitgeist and to help our clients become part of it.

Last weekend was no different: as well as scanning the nationals for the usual stories, we were on the lookout for the annual hoaxes that mark every April Fool’s Day, and to see if one of our own had been picked up (it was, more of which later).

Here’s a round-up.

This story in The Sun alleged that the Queen had called up James Bond to open the Olympic Games this summer, which, whilst an exciting idea, left us shaken but not stirred.

Alesha Dixon’s ‘miraculous rise’ to the GB Fencing Team after only weeks of training might not have sounded particularly convincing, but why not? She is young, takes good care of herself and is clearly ambitious. The fact that she had beaten Claire Richards, formerly of Steps, in the final run-off sadly took the claim away from reality and into April Foolery.

Mo Farah’s brand new cotton wool style training suit featured in the Sun on Sunday, revealing plans to keep the medal prospect wrapped up until the start of London 2012.

This fool was in fact one of our own, but the closely guarded secret still left many Synergists momentarily guessing. Almost as amazing, yet believable given modern training gear, was BMW’s new ‘Driverless Running Coach’ that allows your motor to follow you whilst you hit the streets for a run.

When it came to Arsenal Football Club we smelled a rat from the start. The fragrance that offered fans a chance to bottle the scent of the Emirates Stadium, fronted by Jack Wilshere, strangely enough coincided with the launch of an online interactive stadium tour. Funny that!

However, our favourite story featured in the Sunday Mirror depicting bromantics ‘Simon Cowell and David Walliams of Britain’s Got Talent’ on a picnic date, complete with flowers and swan boating on a lake. Everybody loves a happy ending, even on April Fool’s Day!

By Luke Auty on April 2nd, 2012

Tags: Advertising, Athletics, BMW, Celebrity, Communications, Default, Football, London 2012, Olympic sponsorship, PR, Public relations, Social Media, Synergy, Team GB

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