The adorable Mini MINIs are still making waves. Not because they are cute or effective or saving time at the 2012 Olympics, but because they are seen as advertising, sort of, against the IOC rules. Logos aren’t allowed, but is the MINI a logo?
“It’s got no branding on it, it’s got no Mini badge on it,” BMW spokesman Graham Biggs said of the little cars. “But people like to recognize things and we’ve had a fantastic reaction from people who see them in the stadium. The whole idea of Mini is it’s a fun brand, the cars are cute and they have a smiley face.”
Coke isn’t happy about the lack of logos displayed during the games either.
“We recognize that people have commercial endorsements on the outside, though in a perfect world they’d be a little more enlightened and recognize Coke’s longstanding partnership and sponsorship of the Olympics,” Joe Tripodi, chief marketing officer of Atlanta-based Coca Cola, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “Short term, I understand what they’re doing. It disappoints us but it is what it is.”
Some great inside baseball of the Olympics here that we think is very interesting.
