emoderation social media guide to the 2012 olympics

Authored by

Date

26

2012

For more information call Tamara Littleton on +44 (0)20 3178 5050 www.emoderation.com

eModeration Ltd :: The Media Village :: 131-151 Great Titchfield St :: London :: W1W 5BB :: UK

The 2012 London Olympics are the most ‘social’

ever. But there are severe restrictions about the

associations a brand can make. Our guide

explains what is permissible.

June 2012 Authored by Rachel Boothroyd

Social media

guide to the

2012

Olympics

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Being social in a regulated world ..................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Who wants to ‘engage’ with their bank? Banks are boring, right?Error! Bookmark not defined. The opportunities for social media for financial services companiesError! Bookmark not defined. Setting the rules of engagement ...................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Crisis and risk management over social media ............................. Error! Bookmark not defined.

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eModeration: The Guide to Social Media Engagement for Financial Organisations

2

eModeration Social media guide to the 2012 Olympics

The 2012 Olympics: Just how social can you be?

It may be hard to believe, but just 4 years ago at the Beijing Olympics, there was no official

integration of the Games with social media platforms. At that time Facebook and Twitter had

100m and 6m users respectively. Today's user figures are a staggering 845 million and 140

million - and we have sanctioned integration with the official Olympics hub. The 2012 London

Olympics are being dubbed the 'first social Olympics'.

But - as many of us are aware - there is a whole suite of marketing legislation surrounding use

of anything to do with the London Olympics. Legislation in the host country is enacted

specifically for each Olympic Games, and the laws created for London 2012 are the most

stringent ever, involving some concepts completely new to the Games.

As a social media marketing professional, do you know yet what you can and can't say

about your brand and the Olympics? Do you know what user tweets can be retweeted,

whether your community manager can cheer the athletes on, whether you can pop an

Olympic symbol into a post, run user competition with an Olympic theme, post a picture of a

lit torch or allow a friend to do so on your Facebook page?

eModeration’s legal counsel has researched the subject, and we have produced three blog

posts covering it in detail:

Social media guide to the Olympics Part I: legal overview

Social media guide to the Olympics Part II: The Golden Rules and other practical guidelines

Social media guide to the Olympics Part III: Participants

http://hub.olympic.org/

http://deadspin.com/5903795/posting-a-facebook-photo-from-the-london-olympics-could-land-you-in-court

http://blog.emoderation.com/2012/05/social-media-guide-to-olympics-part-i.html

http://blog.emoderation.com/2012/05/social-media-guide-to-olympics-part-ii.html

http://blog.emoderation.com/2012/06/social-media-guide-to-olympics-part-iii.html

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The Do’s and Don’ts of the 2012 Olympics

However, if you’d like something a little quicker to digest, the following is an at-a-glance

briefing to what may and may not be posted by brands not officially involved. If your brand

isn’t a sponsor of the Olympic Games, posting content that directly relates to the Olympics

(either from the brand or retweeted from someone else) is a risky business.

The first rule of obeying the London Olympics Association Right (LOAR) is to not associate your

brand and the Olympics. Any content you create and advertise must not mislead people

into thinking there is any kind of official association. Simply, you can achieve this by:

1. Limiting the types of content that the brand posts

2. Keeping an eye on the quantity of permitted Olympics related social media updates

made by the brand

Obviously, most brands won’t (and probably couldn’t) ignore the Games altogether.

Everyone wants in on the action. But unless you are an official sponsor, you are not permitted

to create an association. So it’s a fine line to tread.

A busy Twitter stream that posts one tweet on a permitted Olympics topic would probably be

fine. A burst of Olympics-only tweets with a few non-Olympics tweets here and there

wouldn’t.

Essentially, branded social media output is counted as advertising material – which LOCOG

(The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) has

issued guidance about, saying: “Do provide relevant, factual information to clients and

customers in a way which does not promote your business in association with the Games”: for

example, one section on the Games amongst several in a regular client bulletin or seminar.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/12/schedule/4

http://www.london2012.com/about-us/the-people-delivering-the-games/locog/index.html

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Here are the guidelines we are using to brief clients and community managers: (and note

this is our take on it only, not legal advice, or a direct quote from LOCOG guidance.)

If in context brands can:

Provide relevant, accurate, factual information (e.g. tweeting race winners)

Report on the facts of an event (e.g. tweeting about a new record time)

State when an event is taking place (e.g. “Relay race starts in 10mins”)

By ‘within context’, we mean not completely random for your brand to comment on sporting

events)

Brands should:

Moderate pictures, video or audio from events to be posted on social media sites for

potential copyright infringement.

Update moderation guidelines to cater for the Olympics legislation.

Consider re-tweets in the same way as the brands own tweets when applying these

restrictions.

Use caution when linking to any content that refers to the Olympics. Linking rules to

London2012.com have been published by LOCOG in section 5 of their terms of use.

Brands should not (unless an exemption or defence applies, or the post falls under the above

‘can do’ list):

Use the Olympic symbols, the word ‘Olympics, ‘Paralympics’ or any derivation of those

words.

Use the following Listed Expressions (2 from List A or one from each list) List A: “games”,

“two thousand and twelve”, “2012″ and “twenty twelve” and List B: “gold”, “silver”,

“bronze”, “London”, “medals”, “sponsor” and “summer”

Brands must not:

Run a marketing campaign to get the brand associated with the Olympics

Encourage Olympics themed-responses from the brands community

Run a competition for Olympics tickets

Give specific expressions of support (e.g. “Go Team GB in London 2012!”) or

excitement/enthusiasm suggesting a connection with the brand (e.g. “everyone here

at Brand X so excited about the Olympics!”)

Mention a specific product or service in connection with the Games (e.g. “Athlete X

would have won if he’d been wearing our new X trainers!”)

Sponsor London 2012 broadcasts or reports

http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Publications/General/01/25/29/25/guidelines-for-business-use_Neutral.pdf

http://www.london2012.com/terms-of-use/

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We also looked at specific types of social content, and what would be ok and what would

break the rules.

It’s okay to:

Re-tweet the @London2012 account

Post factual information about the events

Post enthusiastic updates about events, as

long as they are not specific, or suggesting

a connection with the brand (e.g.

“Olympics opening ceremony was

awesome! Well done @London2012″)

Have a campaign around sporting

excellence that contains no reference to

the Olympics in words or pictures. No reference to London but just a reference to

sporting excellence, winning, running fast etc. is likely to be ok, but remember to keep

a watch out for use of the Listed Expressions

Brands are on shaky ground when:

? Retweeting - then the brand takes on responsibility for the content in that tweet as its

own. That is certainly the view of the ASA in terms of advertising compliance

? Linking to blogs (this can be seen as an incorporation of that blog). If it’s an Olympic-

related blog that doesn’t comply with the rules above, don’t do it

Avoid:

Posting messages of support to athletes – LOCOG has specifically given the example

of “BRAND X supports our team at the Olympics” as a forbidden message. So a post

on a brand’s social media platform expressing support (e.g. “Go Team GB!”) could be

interpreted as having the same impact

Posting running commentary on events is, in theory, OK but likely to be difficult to while

trying to limit the quantity of posts so it’s best avoided.

Encouraging participation/comments/discussion around Olympic events/participants

from your community would, in the opinion of eModeration’s legal advisor, be seen

as an attempt to create an association and so should be avoided


http://blog.emoderation.com/2011/02/social-media-staying-right-side-of-law.html

http://blog.emoderation.com/2011/02/social-media-staying-right-side-of-law.html

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Posting pictures of London/stadia/crowds/events around the Olympics. If they are

used, enormous caution needs to be applied. This may limit your ability to create that

snazzy Olympics pin board, but LOCOG has said that even a picture of a runner in

outline carrying something that looks similar to a torch against a silhouette of London

landmarks would infringe the LOAR by creating an association. Ultimately, brands

need to avoid any image that suggests an association with the London Olympics

Posts on your site/Facebook page/Pinterest page / other forum from your community

about or from the Olympics. Consider whether UGC on your site or Facebook page

becomes a marketing communication for your brand. If you select an image from a

user and pin it as a brand image on, say, your Facebook or Pinterest page, you are

repurposing the image as marketing material for the brand and thus bringing it within

the restrictions. If your users post Olympics-related material, a cautious approach

would be to remove this type of content just in case (and explain why). A more

‘commercial’ approach would perhaps be to allow the conversation to happen but

not to participate in it on the part of the brand.

Posts (video, audio, pictures) your site/Facebook page/Pinterest page / other forum

from your community from the Olympics – This is likely to be infringing content. As such,

it should be treated the same way your brand would treat any other intellectual

property right infringing content and be removed.

We hope this is useful. Don’t forget, there is a lot more detail, especially on LOAR and

LOCOG, and the rights of particpants and helpers to post user generated content in our blog

posts:

Social media guide to the Olympics Part I: legal overview

Social media guide to the Olympics Part II: The Golden Rules and other practical guidelines

Social media guide to the Olympics Part III: Participants

If you would like to know more or discuss any aspect of social media management,

community management, moderation or social media crisis training, please visit our website

at http://www.emoderation.com or email [email protected].

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/12/schedule/4

http://www.london2012.com/about-us/the-people-delivering-the-games/locog/index.html


http://blog.emoderation.com/2012/05/social-media-guide-to-olympics-part-ii.html

http://blog.emoderation.com/2012/06/social-media-guide-to-olympics-part-iii.html

http://www.emoderation.com/

mailto:[email protected]

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About eModeration

eModeration Limited is an award-winning social media management agency. It works with

some of the world’s biggest brands (including BBC Worldwide, ITV, HSBC, MTV, Sony Mobile,

ESPN, Hyundai, Smirnoff, the LEGO Group, Sprint and The Economist) and agencies (including

Starcom MediaVest Group, Wieden + Kennedy, Ogilvy, Saatchi & Saatchi, DDB Worldwide,

Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Publicis Groupe).

Based in London UK, with offices in Los Angeles and New York, eModeration provides multi-

lingual moderation and community management services, consultancy and social media

crisis management training to clients in the TV, entertainment and digital publishing industry

and blue chip clients hosting online communities.

Committed to ethical business practices and to the promotion of child online safety,

eModeration's CEO Tamara Littleton recently worked with the UK Government department

UKCCIS to produce its guidelines on how to moderate online environments for children.

eModeration contributes to the growth of knowledge in the social media world via its white

papers, blogs and seminars, and has a strong roster of returning clients who appreciate the

high quality of its services.

http://www.emoderation.com/

http://reputationonline.co.uk/2010/09/24/announcing-the-reputation-online-effectiveness-award-winners/

http://www.emoderation.com/2011-02-08%20UKCCIS%20release%20updated%20guidelines%20to%20industry.pdf

http://www.emoderation.com/about/publications

http://www.emoderation.com/about/publications

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© eModeration Limited 2012. This document is the intellectual property of eModeration Limited and may not be duplicated or

disclosed to any third party without the written permission of an authorised officer of the company.

emoderation social media guide to the 2012 olympics

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