Well, LOCOG certainly can't, if the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Brand Protection guidelines are anything to go by.
Although filling London's Olympic venues in 2012 is now a top priority, so, too, is protecting the top-tier sponsors' multi-million-pound investments.
Sponsorship is a key funding pipeline for the Games, and the very real threat of ambushing official sponsor activity is the spur behind the guidelines, drafted in 2005 but made public last month.
LOCOG is launching a public consultation on how it will implement new advertising regulations. Until greater detail emerges, however, non-sponsor brands are seriously concerned (see page 13).
No wonder. According to the IOC, a hotel offering an 'Olympic Games package' would be viewed as a Games-themed promotion, and potentially in breach of the law.
Other scenarios spring to mind. Would a bus campaign about the best way to get to the event constitute ambush marketing? If a charity runs outdoor posters linked to sport or exercise in East London during the event, would it be prosecuted? We have to hope not, and that LOCOG applies common sense in its application of the guidelines.
There will, inevitably, be brands that push their luck, but LOCOG must remain sensitive to those with a long-term grass-roots commitment to UK sport. These include athletics sponsor Aviva and British Gas, a single 2012 event sponsor, but also the 'principal partner of British swimming'. This tie up ends in 2015, long after the hoopla of 2012's closing ceremony dies down.
Noelle.McElhatton@haymarket.com.