• Marketing Pilgrim, Friday, September 26, 2008 3:15 PM

It may be too early to start thinking about ad campaigns tied to the 2012 London Olympics, but as Andy Beal notes, U.K.-based marketers ought to start thinking of out-of-the-box keywords -- as the most obvious terms are officially off limits.

According to the Olympics Act of 2006, only marketers that have purchased licenses with the Games' authorities can use keywords and key phrases like "2012 Games," and "London Summer Games" in their print, TV or online ads. Anyone else caught using those terms faces a £20,000 (roughly $36,800) fine.

"This, according to Out-Law.com, is too severe and many UK advertisers have no idea of how this legislation affects them," Beal says. The Web site found that just 14% of advertisers polled understood the ramifications of the 2006 Act. "While you can sympathize with the Olympics -- after all they don't want big companies mentioning the Olympics, when others have paid licensing fees to do so -- you might want to say a prayer for the small business owners who are blissfully unaware that their next print ad might put them out of business."

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