Should “Beats by Dr. Dre” win a Gold at London 2012 Olympics for using Athletes as Brand Influencers, while Official Sponsors only get Silver?

Team GB Swimmer Liam Tancock in Dr Dre

Anyone that watched the London 2012 Olympics will have noticed that many of the Athletes wore headphones and were listening to music. It was something I had.

It was especially noticeable with the swimmers, many of whom were wearing headphones when being announced in the Aquatics Centre for their events. This included some of the most successful Olympians. 

Athletes listening to music to get “into their zone” to help to focus, and screen out all the noise and bustle, before their event is not a surprise.

What is a surprise is that it was clear that they were all wearing the same distinctive style of headphones. Beats by Dr. Dre. A brand that is not a sponsor or partner of the Olympics in any form. 

This is a remarkable achievement. The IOC is very strict about any form of advertising other than those of the sponsors. For example, you can only use a Visa Card within any venue and only McDonalds can serve and sell Fries within the venues. Not even the staff canteens can.

Beats by Dr. Dre had sampled and provided a range of Athletes a set of their premium earphones, which are known for amazing audio quality and sell for well over £100/ $150 and up. They cleverly also gave them one in their national flag or emblem colour.

The IOC allowed the Athletes to wear them saying : “There is a difference between someone using equipment with a logo and someone promoting the brand”.

Some see this as a clever and masterful form of “ambush marketing”, such as a recent article by Tom Fishburne “The Power of Ambush Marketing”. I include his cartoon making the point, which shows a pool with all the official logos and a group of swimmers talking about the “cool headphones” as the focus. 

Cartoon by: Tom Fishburne at http://www.tomfishburne.com

It is ambush marketing, but it is much more than this. It is unleashing the power of Influencers.

Clearly, the IOC is not clear about the importance and power of Brand Influencers and Brand Advocates when they said:  “There is a difference between someone using equipment with a logo and someone promoting the brand”.

Seeing so many of the most aspirational and inspiring performance athletes in the world, many of whom are heroes to young people, wearing them in such an important event has given them an awareness and endorsement that an advert could never have done. And would have cost a lot more than giving away the product to Athletes would have cost them.

As a viewer of the London 2012 Games, I had noted from the start the headphones, and how so many athletes were wearing them. And that they were all the same type. It had got me wondering about what they were. I also was assuming that they must have been extremely good ones since all the Athletes were all using them. I had started to look at my Bose Noise Cancelling Headphones a different way….

Consumers are becoming less trusting of traditional paid for advertising. They are relying more on recommendations. 

This is something that I have covered previously, looking at the power of and growing importance of brand influencers and brand advocates in “Influencers versus Advocates: Which is More Important For Your Brand?”, “Influencers and Brand Advocates: Which is Better and Why” and “Why Peer Recommendations Are Critical in Marketing”.

While the Athletes using Beats by Dr. Dre at London 2012 are not Brand Advocates. They are powerful Influencers. 

They will, as all good influencers do, have created awareness and given some credentials and credibility to the brand. What Dr. Dre needs to do now, in my view, is find some of them that love the brand - and will be real advocates for them to build on the momentum.

So for me, the tale is less about how to handle guerrilla and ambush marketing. It is about showing how so many traditional marketers do not understand that promoting a brand is not just about using noisy and intrusive paid for media and formal promotions. It can also be about ensuring that Influencers and Advocates are using, being seen to use and talking about the brand.

Brand Owners that understand this and ensure they build this into their marketing mix can still steal a march on their competitors. Think more like Dr. Dre! They win the Gold Medal.

Read my review of the Official Sponsor London 2012 TV ads

London 2012 Olympic Athletes Wearing Beats by Dr. Dre Headphones. Including Michael Phelps

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