With the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics nearly upon us and the 2010 Football World Cup just around the corner we’re soon going to be awash with branded and co-branded products bearing the official logos of these global events and their official sponsorship partners.
Whilst the Winter Olympics are likely to be a more low key affair in the UK the World Cup is set to be massive, particularly in England where support will grow over the next few months to reach fever pitch. So, be prepared to be deluged with flags, pennants, badges, mugs, pens and of course branded memory sticks!
Although its still a couple of years away branded products and merchandise for the 2012 London Olympics are already beginning to appear. There’s no doubt about it global sporting events such as these are a marketers dream. There are very few other platforms with such global reach, such concentrated focus and an “engaged” audience. These sporting events offer a tremendous opportunity to build or reinforce a brand on a truly international scale.
Of course not everyone has access to the huge marketing and advertising budgets that official sponsors of these global events have at their disposal. But you don’t have to be a Coca Cola, Sony, or Visa to take advantage of the branding opportunities presented by sport.
There are always plenty of local or national opportunities for sponsorship that might be more appropriate and better targeted for you. Branding memory sticks with your logo on to support the event (or team) is just one example of how you might participate.
Instead of just printing your logo on a memory stick it’s only marginally more expensive to get a custom 3-D shape memory sticks produced. Imagine supporting your local Hockey Team with a custom shaped USB Hockey Stick or supporting your local Cricket Team with a Custom Shaped USB Cricket Bat. These custom usb memory sticks can carry your brand/logo and be printed with your contact details and of course you can pre-load data onto the sticks as well.
