With the Winter Olympic Games in Milan-Cortina, Italy now making headlines, it’s noteworthy that protests against the games have been occurring since at least 2023, because of the cost and environmental damage that occurred in preparing the region for the games.
Brands that spend millions of dollars sponsoring their tie-in with an Olympics never know in advance how protests might affect their promotions. But there is one aspect of an Olympics that sponsoring brands should keep in mind: Protests against mega sporting events are not new and brands that sponsor mega events have become frequent targets
However there are tactics that could help deflect protests that might be aimed at sponsoring brands. The most effective are tailored to meet the occasion because unlike some clothing, there is no one size fits all.
Below are a few tactics that Olympic sponsors should consider:
Media Training: Because mega sporting events are now always protest targets a new approach to media training is necessary. That’s because to lift a line from a song in Broadway’s “The Music Man,” I believe that “you gotta know the territory,” and it has been my experience that many PR staffers assigned to Olympic Games are chosen from the general agency populations to fill out an account group, not because of any particular expertise. The lead trainer should be an individual with knowledge of the local political situations and anti government and Olympic protest groups so brands’ spokespersons questioned about protests can provide answers putting the protests in perspective, instead of using the same lame answer that has been given for decades: “We just follow the athletes.”
While time is short and Olympic planning should be finalized, this can still be done without rewriting the entire program.
The training should zero in on the following:
- The 2014 Sochi Olympics, when brands had to cancel their promotions because they were targeted for participating in the Olympics because of Russia’s anti-gay and LGBT laws.
- Prior to the 2022 Olympics in China, when a bipartisan committee of Congress questioned representatives from Airbnb, Coca-Cola, Intel, Visa and Procter & Gamble about their participating in an Olympics in a country devoid of human rights. (During the hearing Rep. Christopher Smith asked representatives from the companies how they could “reconcile their ostensible commitment to human rights with subsidizing an Olympics held in a country which is actively committing human rights abuses up to and including Genocide.”)
Staffing: Because it is now a given that where the Olympics go protests will follow, public relations account teams must be staffed with the above and below in mind:
- Sports are now a big business and account staffers must be chosen because of their experience working with business journalists, whose needs are different from sports reporters.
- Protecting a client from negative media coverage must be a priority.
- Experience working with sports reporters is not a necessity when creating an Olympic staff.
Here is how I suggest staffing an Olympics, (or any other mega-sporting event account team):
- It is not necessary to staff an account team with even one individual who knows which athlete did what in the past. Media covering the games already has that information. What is necessary is the following:
- A fast response team consisting of an individual who has extensive crisis PR experience and has the authority to comment without checking with higher-ups.
- A fast writer who can provide Associated Press style press releases.
- A brand marketing specialist, who would be the lead spokesperson for questions regarding brand promotions.
- And an individual who is an Olympic historian who can provide context to what is occurring, in addition to account personal to do the non-media response nitty-gritty.
Another major problem that brands face is having their messages cut through the clutter of other bands.
There is a way that will assure that will happen:
- Have the brands publicly announce, regardless of the country where the games are held, that peaceful protests against the games must be permitted.
- And that the Olympics should not be awarded to totalitarian countries.
Doing so would not only result in major positive publicity, but will position the brand as a leader. And importantly, it can give the brand a platform that can extend its message for as long as the brand wants, even as other brands’ association with the Olympics is short lived, because the great percentage of U.S. media quickly turns to covering football, baseball, basketball and hockey the minute after the closing ceremony.
