Who are the Olympic sponsors?

28% of people think that Pepsi is an official sponsor of the London 2012 game, despite Coca-Cola spending upwards of £100 million to be the only official drinks sponsor, according to a recent Toluna Global Omnibus survey.

A remarkable 37% believed Nike was also an official sponsor, while only 24% correctly identified Adidas.

In order to stage the games, LOCOG said it had to raise at least £700 million in sponsorship, and it could not have done that if it did not offer its partners protection.

However, despite rules to protect official sponsors – which City A.M.’s Marc Sidwell defended in his Newsline column last week – a number of brands have gained recognition associated with London 2012. It is not clear if this has been achieved through ambush marketing or long term sponsorship of key athletes and sports teams.

Last week, Oddbins launched an anti-Olympic campaign with posters and discounts for customers wearing Nike, paying with Mastercard and carrying an iPhone. As a result, Oddbins.com saw a 22% increase in traffic to its site during the period Monday 24 July to Wednesday 25 July.

There has also been some negativity for sponsors – an exmple being when fans went to watch Team GB take on United Arab Emirates at Wembely. 80,000 supporters had to go hungry and thirsty when the Visa payment system collapsed within the stadium. Supporters were unable to pay using other credit cards and could only use cash, if they had any. Visa started trending on Twitter in the UK as people vented their anger.

But it is not all doom and gloom for official sponsors – many were correctly identified by the survey, with Visa and McDonald’s being named by 41% and 40% of people surveyed – second and third to Coca-Cola (47%).

New research by Ebiquity shows that, with the exceptions of Nike, Virgin Media and British Gas (a long-term sponsor of Great British swimming), most competitors to the official sponsors have cut spending on advertising in the 12 weeks running up to the Olympics.

Over the 12 weeks to 15 July, shortly prior to the start of the Olympics, brand rivals have spent an average of 6% less on TV and print advertising compared to the same period in 2011.

Unilever has spent £12 million less this year, with spending on TV advertising down form £32 million to £26 million. Nestle’s spending follows a similar pattern with spending down from £4 million to £2 million, and finally MasterCard spent just £67,000 – a 91% drop.