Brand awareness - IOC in discussions to expand ‘non-compulsory’ branding with international federations for qualifying competitions

At the conference of the Association of Summer Olympic International Federations (ASOIF) in Lausanne, Switzerland last week, International Olympic Committee (IOC) Sports Director Kit McConnell introduced a ‘common branding’ platform which would enable the use of Olympic branding at qualification events.

McConnell emphasized the IOC is not mandating the federations to use an Olympic brand around its events, describing the wider engagement as “an opportunity” that is “not compulsory.”

The idea is to have a two-tiered Olympic approach. One that incorporates the famed ‘rings’ and another without, but would be an associated, corporate brand that federations could use to engage local or in-country commercial sponsors.

“We’re looking to develop a brand that will have more flexibility than the offering that has been given to you in recent Games.

“We know over recent Games we’ve introduced brands, but we’ve put perhaps so many restrictions around the use of them that they’ve become almost impossible for you to use in your environments where, quite rightly, you have your own commercial partners and others involved visually, as well as in terms of promotion.

“In addition to that offer, we also want to make a wider promotion with you around the qualifiers themselves for everyone’s benefit. We’re looking to build around the theme of ‘The Road to Paris 2024′ in terms of the Olympic qualifiers over a two-year period starting this month.”

The first ‘unified branding’ approach will be on display in Rome as skateboarding qualifications are set to take place on June 26.

“We have 11 other federations and 21 other specific qualification events throughout the rest of this year, so we’ll continue to focus on those but already start to build a calendar of planning around the rest of the qualification cycle.”

The IOC will continue to work with international federations to develop content tailored to promote the various qualifying events. This will be the focus of the agency’s new digital engagement and marketing director, Leandro Larrosa.

The proposed changes to reach wider audience of the brand on social media and other engagements was met with caution by ASOIF president Francesco Ricci Bitti,

“I believe that if you get into the branding and the rights on-site of some competitions, then a problem with the relations is coming.” he noted.

ASOIF also voted to amended its statutes to allow a revenue share for sports that have competed in over three consecutive Summer Games.

As a result three international federations: International Surfing Association (ISA), World Skate, and the IFSC, are in line for a portion of the revenue from the LA28 Games.