USOC Goes After Verizon, Subway for 'Ambush' Marketing

The rough times continue for the United States Olympic Committee. Over the past year, the governing body of the U.S. Olympic team has struggled through leadership turmoil (three different CEOs in 10 months; pictured is current CEO Scott Blackmun), the failed Chicago bid for the 2016 Olympics, and a nasty spat with NBC about an Olympics cable-TV network that the USOC wanted to launch with Comcast.

And now, just two weeks ahead of the Vancouver Winter Olympics, the organization is on the defensive again, issuing a statement Wednesday criticizing "ambush marketing" tactics by Subway and Verizon. Neither company is an official USOC sponsor, but both recently unveiled Olympics-themed commercials. Verizon's ad features two racing speed skaters and narration that asks, "What does it take to succeed ... in a place with the highest level of competition?", while Subway's spot has Michael Phelps swimming across an animated map toward Canada, "Where the action is this winter."

While the USOC did not name Subway or Verizon in its release, the organization's response was triggered by complaints from USOC sponsors McDonald's and AT&T, according to Sports Business Journal. The statement called out marketers who attempt to "benefit from an association with the Olympic marks without providing any financial support to America's athletes and the global Olympic Movement." Such companies, the USOC said, "damage official Olympic sponsors and undermine the USOC's financial means to ensure that America's athletes are given the best chance to perform."

AT&T has particular reason to be peeved. Just last October, after months of wrangling, it renewed its deal to be the USOC's official telecommunications partner through the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, and it is also a major advertiser on NBC's Olympic broadcasts.

McDonald's has an even larger commitment to the Olympics. As one of the International Olympic Committee's nine top-tier sponsors, it pays about $25 million per year to be the IOC's exclusive fast-food sponsor, and is the only restaurant chain that can use the Olympics logo in all of its global advertising.

Jack Daly, McDonald's chief communications officer, said in a statement that the company supports the USOC's "efforts to protect their brand and defend against ambush marketing tactics, which only hurt the Olympic movement and its athletes."

Subway and Verizon could not be reached for comment, but they are hardly the first companies to attempt a creative maneuver around a competitor's exclusive sports-marketing deal. For years, Anheuser-Busch paid millions to be the Super Bowl's official beer advertiser, but rival brewers often purchased local TV ads -- or threw parties near the stadium during the week -- in an attempt to grab attention without paying premium rates for "official" rights.

These so-called ambush tactics have been around for decades but they've increased in sophistication as companies have figured out how to align themselves with a high-profile sports property -- like, say, the Olympics -- without using official trademarks or slogans in their ads.

The Subway spot, for example, doesn't mention the USOC and only shows the first three letters of the word "Canada" on a map, but the implication is clear -- Phelps is swimming toward Vancouver and the Winter Olympics.

"It's actually very deviant when you think about it, because these campaigns take months to produce," said Rob Prazmark, an Olympics marketing veteran and former sales consultant for the USOC, in an interview with FanHouse. The USOC has to take a stance against such "parasitic" campaigns, he says, because "if they can't protect their sponsors, then the framework for the organization's entire existence begins to break down."

While Subway has no relationship with the USOC or any of the national governing bodies (NGB) that oversee Olympic sports, Verizon has been a long-time sponsor of U.S. Speedskating and the U.S. Luge Association, two of the only NGBs that control their own marketing rights. That loophole allowed U.S. Speedskating to strike its deal with Verizon, AT&T's No. 1 competitor, and pursue a much-publicized sponsorship deal with Stephen Colbert's Comedy Central show.

Verizon is "getting under the skin of the USOC," says Prazmark, "but they are very clearly playing within the rules."