American rapper, Dr Dre, has creatively pushed the limits of marketing with the help of extensively exposed Olympians. The entrepreneur and founder of the popular “Dre Beats” line of headphones has highlighted the vague line between property and sponsorship at events such as the Olympics. The brand, although not an official sponsor for the London olympic games, sent the GB Olympic team a set of headphones emblazoned with the national colours. The issue raised by doing so is the infringement of the global rights paid in full by the 11 international companies at a price tag near 100 million dollars each. Superstar athletes such as Michael Phelps and Lebron James have brought much attention to the brand under the Olympic spotlight. The marketing ambush has cought the International Olympic Comittee by surprise, and has forced them to jump into the now seemingly foggy area of sponsorship. It would appear that the very expensive rights paid by for by the sponsors are now very hard to keep exclusive: “There is a difference between someone using equipment with a logo and someone promoting the brand.”- IOC spokesman Mark Adams. The stunt has gone on to promote other large companies to do the same and capatalize on the questionable ability of the IOC to control the difference between sponsorships and possession.
web references: http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/jul/31/dr-dre-beats-olympic-brand-police