Sponsor Spotlight -- Coke Unveils Olympic Ad; BP Controversy

Coca-Cola Unveils 2012 Olympic Advertisements

Coca-Cola is jumpstarting its advertising campaign for London 2012 with a commercial featuring producer Mark Ronson and singer Katy B.

On Wednesday, the beverage company unveiled footage of a performance of the song "Anywhere in the World," as part of its "Move to the Beat" campaign. The song incorporates the sounds of athletes practicing their sports.

Coca-Cola says the campaign is part of a broader effort to reach young consumers through the London Games.

"We approached our London 2012 campaign in a bold new way in order to create stories that teens would love and that they would want to share," said Jonathan Mildenhall, vice president of global advertising strategy and content excellence.

"This wasn't about shooting a television commercial. It was about inspiring teens to move and capturing the story from multiple angles and viewpoints in order to create pieces of film that could be spread across multiple media platforms."

The Torch Relay sponsored by Coca-Cola will also be a chance to engage young people, said James Eadie, Olympic portfolio director.

"The activity is more about real time responses and capturing the spontaneity around the Games than about creating TV ads. The filming of the ads was an event for young people to come along to and so the story in the ad is as much about the people who were there and the crowds getting involved as it is about the brand," he said in MarketingWeek.

IOC Not Worried by Resignation of Rio 2016 Marketing Head

Gerhard Heiberg, IOC Marketing Commission chairman tells Around the Rings, the IOC remains confident with Rio 2016's marketing program, despite the sudden resignation of its marketing chief.

Chief Commercial Officer Flavio Pestana quit on Feb. 14, just one month after he was hired. Pestana was hired to replace Maggie Sanchez, who was sacked along with her team last October.

However, Heiberg says the organizing committee plenty of time to implement a successful marketing program.

"There are more than 4 years to go, and we are in close contact with the management in Rio," he said in an email. "When it comes to marketing, things are absolutely moving in the right direction."

Rio 2016 CEO Leonardo Gryner will head the marketing team until a new chief commercial officer is selected.

BP Sponsorship Criticized by Activists

BP is the latest Olympic sponsor to come under criticism for its sponsorship of the Games.

In an open letter to the IOC, LOCOG and the Commission for a Sustainable London, the activist group No Tar Sands says BP’s sponsorships allow the company to draw attention away from some of its more dubious activities, including the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and its relationships with disposed heads of state.

"Sponsorship acts as a smokescreen, obscuring embarrassing political and human rights slip-ups such as its formerly close relationships with the Mubarak regime in Egypt and the Gaddafi regime in Libya," the group said in its letter, posted online.

The letter continues, claiming BP'srole as an Olympic partner further distracts the public from the oil giant’s degradation of the environment and calls BP "one of the least sustainable companies on earth."

"In order to distract us from this fact, BP’s multi-faceted sponsorship of London 2012 provides a number of new opportunities for the company to associate itself with the excitement of the Olympics shared by millions."

Signatories to the letter include politicians, academics and environmentalists.

Olympic Icons Return to Wheaties Boxes

Gold medalists Muhammad Ali, Bruce Jenner and Mary Lou Retton will once again have their likenesses featured on boxes of Wheaties cereal.

The Associated Press reports that the boxes will sport retro images of the boxing champion Ali, decathlete Jenner and gymnast Retton.

Wheaties is famous in the United States for featuring photos of sporting champions on its boxes, following major victories or accomplishments.

Bahamas'Athletes Get IOC Funding

Olympic officials in the Bahamas are calling on the country's companies to support its London Olympic team.

Local media report that BOC president Wellington Miller is still looking for additional funding to get the country’s team to London.

"Getting the athletes prepared for the Olympics is a very costly venture. The IOC has given us $100,000 for preparation but for getting the amount of teams prepared to go to London is quite costly," Miller was quoted as saying.

"So we are still asking for all of corporate Bahamas to come on board because every athlete needs some special training to get to the Olympics."

Written by Ann Cantrell.

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