BOCOG tightens hold on outdoor media ahead of Games

With just over two months until the start of the event, BOCOG has invalidated all advertising agreements signed last year and stipulated that sponsors buy outdoor advertising media in packages at capped rates.

The move follows the removal last year by city authorities of hundreds of billboards in an effort to eradicate advertising fragmentation ahead of the Games.

This will allow BOCOG to better manage the city and to streamline everything, explained Siew Ping Lim, managing director of MindShare Beijing, adding that sponsors had had advanced notification of the ruling and had been invited to participate in negotiations along with selected agencies.

Lim declined to comment on the effectiveness for advertisers of the realigned packaging, but said that in view of the enhanced marketing opportunity presented by the Olympic climate, there were unlikely to be any losers among sponsors.

Non-sponsors, meanwhile, are facing a separate challenge. To protect the rights of official sponsors, BOCOG has introduced a series of measures to prevent guerrilla marketing by non-sponsors, including the priority allocation of prominent advertising sites around the city to official sponsors between July and September.