It’s been 27 years since gas leaked out of a Union Carbide pesticide plant in India and killed about 15,000 people. It also injured an additional 500,000 and is still causing health problems in the area today, according to the Indian government.

Union Carbide is owned by Dow Chemical, which happens to be one of the sponsors of next summer’s London Olympics, a fact that is not bringing smiles to many people in India. And Dow isn’t just any sponsor. It is the one that the London Organizing Committee has selected to sponsor  a “wrap that will envelope the main Olympic Stadium,” according to the London Telegraph.

“Victims of the accident, as well as former Indian Olympians and officials, have been pressuring Olympic organizers to drop Dow as a sponsor,” the Associated Press reports. “Less than two weeks ago, protesters in Bhopal burned an effigy of the head of the Olympic organizing committee, Sebastian Coe,” who won four Olympic medals for running in the 1980 and 1984 Games. Also burned in effigy was Indian Olympic Association president Vijay Kumar Malhotra, the Telegraph reports. 

One person who is also not excited about Dow’s involvement is a member of the organizing committee, Sir Robin Wales. "I believe the decision to accept sponsorship from Dow Chemical and in particular the decision to have that company so prominently connected to the iconic Olympic Stadium is worthy of a further review,” Wales said, the Telegraph reports. “I am disappointed by the decision not to look again at the deal."

Coe, however, is all for Dow’s involvement.Continue reading...

In the months leading up to this fall’s Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, there was much ado about the unauthorized piggyback practice of ambush marketing by non-sponsors.

New regulations and practices were put in place to be sure that any brand that hadn’t paid a massive chunk to sponsor the matches found even the teensiest way to affiliate itself with the event. The preparation for such a possible catastrophe seemed to put ambush marketing on par with terrorism.

Other than a bunch of scantily clad gals in stilettos handing out flyers for a strip club after one particular match, the RWC went ambush-free.

Now a much bigger event is coming, next year’s Summer Olympics in London (which organizers refuse to identify with its XXX Roman numerals, for some reason), and nobody wants any big-spending sponsors to be outdone by some fancy bit of ambush marketing.Continue reading...

In the late summer of 2012, the sporting world’s eyes will be upon London where the XXX Olympics (oh, behave!) will kick off with much fanfare and probably a good many shots on the television of the Queen’s Guard marching about seriously.

If all goes well for Olympic organizers, it’ll also feature a stadium with a new name. The Daily Mail reports that the Olympic Park Legacy Company is “looking to raise about £10million ($13.5 million) a year in naming rights for the three main arenas in Stratford after the 2012 Games.”

With the Olympic ceremonies alone estimated to be valued up £5b, it could be an unprecedented platform for brand exposure. That's why London 2012 organizers are seeking sponsors to sign on the dotted line and place their names on the new Olympic Stadium, aquatics center, and velodrome. The stadium alone should raise £6m ($8m) annually, the Mail reports.

The West Ham United club of the English Premier League are looking to move into the stadium after the Olympics end, the Mail notes, which would make it part of the growing numbers of teams that play in a branded stadium.Continue reading...

Arnold Palmer re-brands for a generation who never knew the golfing legend.

Audiovox rebrands to Voxx International.

BlackBerry-maker RIM warns about profit outlook.

BMW and Mercedes-Benz race to the wire for 2011 luxury-sales crown in U.S.

Boeing takes its Dreamliner on a "world tour."

Chick-fil-A spat with t-shirt maker hits the New York Times.

Corona brings beach experience to London.Continue reading...

The International Olympic Committee has been using "The Best of Us" as a tagline in its ongoing marketing campaign to promote the Olympic Games.

Now, with less than 250 days to go before the London 2012 summer games, the New York Times notes that, in addition to TV commercials, the IOC and London Olympic organizers are using the tagline as the basis of a global campaign "to reach younger viewers through social media, user-generated content and other digital offerings." The goal is not only to engage the public, but particularly youths, in London 2012 via the web, mobile and social media.Continue reading...

somewhereto_ (note the underscore) is a U.K.-wide non-profit project "to help 16-25 year olds find the space they need to do the things they love."

Funded by Legacy Trust UK, an independent charity set up to help build a lasting cultural and sporting legacy from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK, it recently came up with a neat trick to engage British youths in getting active and having fun: giving them free run of the British Prime Minister's residence at Number 10 Downing Street.

As seen above and below, Britain's most famous front door was unlocked to 10 young "freerunners" looking for "somewhereto_ practice parkour," while another group , and were given free rein to use Number 10 Downing Street as a venue to showcase their freerunning skills, while teen boxers and spoken word artists were also invited to bring their skills to the PM's pad.Continue reading...

Microsoft eyes Yahoo bid, Reuters hears.

Apple red-faced as new Siri feature sounds like 'buttocks' in Japanese.

British Airways ramps up London 2012 sponsorship.

Ford joins Boxtops for Education.

Groupe Aeroplan changes name to Aimia.

Pantene signs Liv Tyler for new campaign.

Tiger Woods brand rebounds with Rolex sponsorship.

Wheaties selects a new NASCAR driver to sponsor.

Yum! Brands charts turnaround for Taco Bell.

The Rugby World Cup that is currently underway in New Zealand has set new precedents in its attempts to scare off and stop ambush marketing of any sort. 

The next big event to step up and try to show how it’s going to crush ambush marketers of all stripes will be the 2012 London Olympics (the unfortunately numbered XXX games, though you understandably won’t find that anywhere on London’s Olympic website). 

“A proposed amendment to the Olympics Act 2006, due to come before Parliament by the end of this year, will reverse the customary burden of proof in criminal cases,” Marketing Magazine reports. “Senior marketers could therefore be found guilty of an offence unless they can prove that ambush activity for their brand took place without their knowledge, or that they took reasonable steps to prevent it.”

After all, in such a financially strapped world, big events such as these are attempting to protect the investment of the corporations that actually shell out the big bucks to be corporate sponsors rather than the creative, lower-cost marketers who are trying to sneak in publicity, whether it’s through skywriting, streakers, or women in matching orange outfits.

“The extraordinary derogation from the normal position could also catch out directors of official sponsors whose staff or agencies overstep the strict letter of their sponsor rights,” said Nick Johnson, partner at law firm Osborne Clarke, Marketing Magazine reports.

Let’s hope the law is as tough on actual ambushers as it is on sneaky advertisers.