Four Marketing P’s for London Olimpics

This report research and analyse marketing environment for the London Olympic Games for 2012, using set of tools known as marketing mix. This paper is referred to 4P’s: product, price, promotion, place and their importance for the London Olympics. Widely discuss 2012 Olympic Brand, its precious history, ambitious vision, development in past years. Explains how important Olympic Games are for people all over the world and shows how sports segment on different type of individuals. One part of that this paper reveals the prised used for tickets and the strategy allocated for this year Olympics. The other part explains how LOCOG advertise Olympic Games and how they use their sponsors for it. And for last this report shows how important place is to bring Olympic spirit to the heart of London. Justify some recommendations for LOCOG to succeed in the plans which they are already achieving for this year Olympic event.

Importance of Product
Traditionally it has always been said that the Olympic Games started at Olympia, in Greece, in 776 BC. But The Modern Olympic games revived by the French Baron Pierre de Coubertin started in the late 19th century, bringing the Olympic symbol we know and recognize today. The logo was first found on a flag which first flown during the 1920 Olympic Games and it had five interlocking rings – black, yellow, blue, red, and green in the white background. Olympic symbol colours were chosen because at least one of them appeared on the flag of every country in the world. That symbol is the most known logo in the world. Most of the countries and cities which held the Olympics in past hundred years used this symbol as a part of their campaign in which they have to create the brand for that year Olympic Games. As 2012 games are held in London, The logo for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics was unveiled in a star-studded ceremony in London in June 2007. The jagged emblem, based on the date 2012, comes in a series of shades of pink, blue, green and orange (Appendix 1) and will evolve in the run-up to the Games. The word London and the Olympic rings are included in the first two digits of the new logo. “This is the vision at the very heart of our brand.” Said Seb Coe.

Although at first from launching the logo there were a lot of different opinions about it. Bob Neill, London Assembly Member for Bexley and Bromley and the Conservative spokesman on the 2012 Olympic Games, said: “Lord Coe has described this logo as ‘ambitious, interactive and youth-friendly’; I would describe it as hideous. (Metro, Accessed: 20 February 2012)

Organisers hoped that the brand will be immediately recognisable worldwide and that London 2012 will be ‘Everyone’s Games’. And as nearly five years past we now know and see that most of us where wrong, all love this Logo and it became a brand of our lives for 2012 summer.

London Olympic Games 2012 is relatively inelastic product; there are no substitutes for it, not for the four ears at least, just a huge demand for it. Olympic games count as a luxuries, it’s not essential for every days use, but as it held in London this year, every Londoner and UK citizen would like to be involved in this event because it is a one chance a lifetime opportunity.

Olympic Games offer us an extraordinary sports event that we will never forget, everyone can find sports which they like and enjoy watching. As a tradition some sports segment on certain groups of individuals with common needs and characteristics. Most of the time it depends on nationality, gender, age, even religion. For example mostly men watch football or most of the British and Indian nations like cricket. Lithuanian traditional sport is basketball so there is a possibility that there will be a lot of Lithuanian man watching national team playing with other countries.

Importance of Price
October 2010 International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge revealed pricing of the tickets for London 2012 Olympics. In total there will be 8.8 million tickets available for Olympic Games. In March 2011 they launched 75% of all the tickets available: 90% of these tickets were priced at £100 or under, two thirds of these tickets were at £50 or under, 2.5 million tickets – £20 or under. The rest 25% of tickets will be released on April this year from the official Olympic ticket retailers. The ticketing structure for the London 2012 Olympic Games offers a wide range of affordable tickets starting from just £20. In addition to the standard pricing there are a number of initiatives such as “Pay your Age” for a ticket for under 16’s and a Ticket share scheme to donate tickets to schools, also 60+ are paying just £16 per session. A total of 1.3 million tickets are available through this scheme’s. The Ceremonies at London 2012 Games trace their origins as far back as the Ancient Games in Greece.

Evolving over the centuries, an estimated one billion people will watch the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Games. For this extraordinary experiences ticket prices range from £20.12 to £2,102 for the opening and £1,500 for the closing. (Coventry Solihull and Warwickshire Partnership, Accessed: 23 February 2012) “There is a very good range in prices that will allow all of the public to participate at the Games as spectators. Rogge also stated it was important to have a limited number of expensive tickets to allow cheap tickets to be made available. “There is a market for top prices and the market for top prices allows for the lower prices,” he said. (Tom Degun, 2011) For all this prices and limited amount of tickets available for public, there are events for free entrance, such as Marathon. Spectators are expected to line the streets of London and soak up the atmosphere. Road cycling, walking races and the cycling part of the triathlon are also free to watch. For this Olympic Games for 2012 London will invest approximately 9.3bn pounds, there is a hope to get £10bn in the revenue for British economy in whole. As one-quarter of the total revenue comes from the ticketing; prising strategy was chosen very carefully. All ticket prices depend on the sport event, when it will take place, in which venue, most importantly session type and even a gender (as noticed male sports priced more than female). However seems that LOCOG make its effort and made the tickets affordable to everyone, as people are more likely to pay money for the sports they most admire.

Importance of Promotion
London Olympics for 2012 has been promoted in very smart way. LOCOG did not use straight advertising on television, radio or other above the line promotional methods. However they promote Olympics as a public event for everyone by using their sponsors. Sponsorship is a business relationship in which one organisation provides funds or services to another organisation (or an individual) and gain commercial advantage through being linked to them. (Masterson Rosalind and Pickton David, 2010) Companies such as Coca-Cola, McDonalds, and Visa invested big amounts of money in the Olympics funds, help them to make it happen and in exchange use its brand as their individual campaign.

Lloyds TSB, BT, EDF, Adidas, British Airways bring people together for the Olympics 2012 and associate British quality and trust to Britain’s. Olympics Official Supporters Cadbury, Deloitte, Thomas Cook, UPS and many more help to create this event for London. They all used London Olympics logo on their products next to their own brands (Cadbury, appendix 2). Some of them use their adverts as the Olympic spirit (British Airways, appendix 3). Some uses opportunities and creates console game for Olympic fans with well-known characters (Nintendo Games, appendix 4). Or some of them just bring their customers together for the Olympics 2012 (Lloyds TSB, appendix 5). Official London 2012 sponsors make a huge contribution to the Games by investing millions of pounds and providing their goods, services, expertise and support to the Games. In return they are given the exclusive right to market their products in connection with London 2012 and use the official logos. (LOCOG Brand Protection, 2010)

Importance of Place
London Olympics is a biggest sporting event in the world for 2012, there is no definite numbers on the amount of visitors expect during the Games period, although there are ‘hopes’ based on previous Games. An independent report by Oxford Economics estimates the number of visitors to London for the 2012 Games will be approximately 450,000 staying visitors, taking into account displacement. In addition, they estimate that 5.5. million day visitors will also come to the capital over the Games period. The 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will not only be held in the Olympic Park in Stratford East London; sailing events will be held in Weymouth and Portland, on the English south coast; parks, major sports venues, entertainment arenas and exhibition spaces across London will also be used for events (John O’ Ceallaigh, 2011). Visitors are encouraged to visit Transport For London internet pages before leaving homes for Olympic game period. Organise their trips carefully, prebook accommodations, restaurants and leisure facilities in advance.

To bring us much us possible tourists in London in the summer time Official Ticket seller for Olympics 2012 Thomas Cook offers Guaranteed London 2012 Breaks which includes tickets to games, accommodation even travel card for that day games. Most of UK travel agencies offer their services for that period and are willing to accommodate everyone who is willing to see the Games of 2012 in whatever price they need to pay. For this London Olympics LOCOG chose limited number of distribution channels for ticketing, just official Olympic ticket web page and Thomas cook agency are allowed to resell tickets for Olympics.

People cannot change, rename or return tickets. However that made a lot of complains for LOCOG, because from the first round for ticket sales their system crashes, recently on reopened resell web page crashes again, leaving customers with the unwanted tickets and without possibility to exchange them. A spokesman for the London 2012 Organising Committee (LOCOG) said today: ‘Our focus is on resolving the issues on the website and getting [ticket agents] Ticketmaster to get it back up and running again.’ (Eccles L.,Bond A., 2012). Leaves people with the thoughts if they ever will be able to buy/resell/change any of them till Olympics will start in summer 2012.

Recommendations
LOCOG (The London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games) had a big task since 2005 when they won a chance to host Olympics in London for 2012. And I think they made a huge effort for this year games to happen. Although task wasn’t easy and there was some points which needed more attention. Even the start with Olympic Logo wasn’t easy, they manage to defend their symbol and keep it as it is, and prove everyone that they were wright. They run everything on time and almost with the budget, most of the Londoner’s are proud of them. Although they created a lot of unnecessary problems for those who wanted to get involved with the games and watch them from the stadiums. Ticketing system didn’t work for two rounds already and there is a small possibility it will work properly in this April. Olympics where and still are a most important sporting event in the world and as a product it’s really hard to reach then there is no way for doing it. LOCOG should fix their problems with the tickets buying issues, should be more involved with the Ticketmaster’s protocols and programs, because I think that was the most important part, which let people to find their way to Olympics, and those companies failed to deliver their services.

List of References

Metro, ‘Trendy London 2012 logo branded a flop’ [www], Available from: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/51690-trendy-london-2012-logo-branded-a-flop [Accessed: 20 February 2012]
Coventry Solihull and Warwickshire Partnership, ‘London 2012 Olympic Games Tickets’ [www], Available from: http://london2012.cswp.org.uk/files_cms/downloads/Fact%20Sheet%20Olympic%20Tickets%20-%20Pink.pdf [Accessed: 23 February 2012] Tom Degun, 2011, ‘IOC President pleased with London 2012 ticket pricing structure’ [www], Available from: http://www.insidethegames.biz/olympics/summer-olympics/2012/12150-ioc-president-pleased-with-london-2012-ticket-pricing-structure [Accessed: 18 February 2012] Masterson R. and Pickton D., 2010, Marketing: an introduction, Sage, London The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd, 2010, ‘Locog brand protection’ [www], Available from: http://www.london2012.com/documents/brand-guidelines/guidelines-for-business-use.pdf [Accessed: 20 February 2012] John O’ Ceallaigh, 2011, The Telegraph, ‘Olympics Visitors’ Guide’ [www], Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/london/8663143/Olympics-Visitors-Guide.html [Accessed: 27 February 2012] Louise Eccles and Anthony Bond, 2012, The Daily Telegraph ‘Olympics ticket resale website crashes for a second day as thousands struggle to sell off their unwanted