Is Social Media Controllable? The Olympics are sure going to try…..

What do advertisers typically demand the most when paying for sponsorships? Presence and exclusivity. That’s exactly what the London Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) is trying to give their sponsors for the upcoming 2012 Summer Olympics. Sponsors such as McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, British Airways and Adidas have collectively paid $1 billion for the exclusive sponsorship status around the two week event. To protect sponsors the LOCOG is enforcing a one kilometer “Brand Exclusion Zone” which allows no brands to compete with official sponsors. This not only includes ads but also includes such things as people paying with the wrong credit card.

I was surprised to learn that there are also plans to try to control or limit social media. Social media takes conversation to the next level and invites a more organic two way dialogue. However, athletes are forbidden to upload pictures, footage, or post about their performance or anyone else’s. They cannot share or discuss anything about brands unless the brand is an official Olympic sponsor. Same holds true for the volunteers of the events. How is the Organizing Committee going to control the mass of volunteers and athletes from posting, tweeting, tagging etc…? What will it do if Lebron posts pictures of his Nike’s or if Michael Phelps tweets something pertaining to Speedo? It’s impossible to police. Some people are dubbing the upcoming Olympics as the first “social games” given the evolution and development of social media compared to 2008. Through viral sharing tools, the event will allow users to spread Olympic news throughout their social graph and reach millions of people. How will the LOCOG prevent this information flow from occurring and what would be the repercussions for socially savvy athletes or volunteers who violate the policy? In trying to prevent the official sponsors from losing their competitive advantage, the LOCOG/brands could face a backlash from a public outraged over the restrictions they are attempting to impose.

http://adage.com/article/global-news/brand-police-full-force-london-olympics/235136/