There can't have been a business in the country that wasn't euphoric about the capital winning the 2012 Olympic Games. Amid the cheers, many will be anticipating the immense positive impact it will have on their bottom lines.
For some, it could be the making of them. Take the investment brands are making in the Beijing 2008 Games. For around $70million (£40million) a deal, the Chinese Olympic Committee is giving sponsors what it describes as the most comprehensive sponsorship programme created in association with the Games. Backers get an all-encompassing five-year calendar of events and opportunities. They also get access to the world's strongest emerging market. Inevitably, as brands exploit their tie-ins, spend will flow through to other markets.
But it's not going to be easy if you're not an official sponsor. Like China, the UK Government has an Olympics Bill that it was pushing through P&I went to press. While the Bill is designed to prevent ambush marketing and non-sponsors from cashing in on the event, brands will still be able lever the event given the breadth of opportunity sport offers. What is essential is that they do it creatively - and with care and integrity.
What's without question is that SP is set to be a core route for brands wanting to exploit the opportunities that the Games will bring to London.
Read on to see why.
JOE CLIFT, HEAD OF BRAND MANAGEMENT, VISA
We'll see a general upturn in Games-related SP as 2012 approaches. Clear opportunities exist for the right brands to lever momentum, but they have to do so in credible ways to "earn their right" from the association with the Olympics.
Visa Europe will build progressively towards 2012, just like any other Olympics. SP work won't begin in earnest until after Beijing. The key thing is that activity needs to be more than just classic sponsorship: we need to demonstrate ROI. We've learned techniques to ensure our Olympics link is pulled through to promotional effectiveness, so you can expect to see a lot of activity nearer the time. We're hosting a British Olympic Association workshop to set the scene for some activities, but it's early days. We need to focus on Torino seven months away, before we get too excited about London.
KEVIN PEAKE, HEAD OF CUSTOMER MARKETING, NPOWER
Sport is a powerful way of building our brand, it adds emotion to a sector that is seen as being very rational. With London's Olympic win, sports sponsorship and associated SP is set to become a regular feature for Npower over the next seven years.
We'll be looking to make the most of our involvement with Wembley Stadium - the first new-build Olympic venue to be completed - and with Lords, where the archery will be held, through our sponsorship of cricket.
The benefits are immediate: a key theme of the Olympic bid was getting kids involved in sport, and we've just announced an investment of £300,000 into a grassroots cricketing initiative. Along with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, it's a unique opportunity to engage in long-term marketing campaigns.
EDWIN MUTTON, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, ISP
That London is to host the 2012 Olympics is good news for not only for London, but the UK, the economy and business. It will generate an enormous level of activity in every sphere of life during the next seven years.
Creative promotions, promotional merchandise and integrated activity will all add impetus and value to the event. One only has to look at the enormous activity surrounding the bid, to anticipate what will be generated by the Games themselves.
But a word of caution. There are already strict rules relating to the association of the Olympics to advertisements, promotions, prizes and corporate hospitality. The Government is planning to tighten this legislation even further. Any marketers planning to run Olympics-related activity must make sure they take professional advice.
SCOTT KNOX, MANAGING DIRECTOR, MCCA
The 2012 Olympics will generate an extra £600million in global ad revenue, of which UK plc will take a lion's share. For certain sectors, especially tourism, leisure, catering and sport, the uplift will be profound but it remains to be seen whether the 2012 London Games will be a general marketing bonanza or a preserve of global brand leaders.
Olympic sponsors such as Coca-Cola and Visa will be powerfully placed to benefit from the London Games. For them, 2012 is not a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity but one that appears every four years. These brands know how to "play" the Olympics and play it well. The challenge for UK marketers will be to match the big brands' experience. More than a few astute agencies will be sending executives to Beijing in 2008 and I am sure it won't be to watch the hurdles.
RICHARD WOOD, CEO, BPMA
The success of London's Olympic bid is a major boost for the promotional merchandise industry, and opens up opportunities for a vast range of products and related activities from commemorative and souvenir items to sponsorship and incentives.
Sports sponsorship and event marketing have become ever more attractive alternatives to TV advertising. The Olympics will be a major money-making machine for many UK SP companies, which will be producing innovative merchandise tailored to fit the Olympic brand identity.
While 2012 seems a long way away, proactive companies will be getting on with it now, promoting themselves and their products.
The Games offer something for everybody, and the Olympic brand will once again attract huge investment.
CHARLES WEBB, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ARENA EVENTS
London staging the games will have an absolutely huge impact on the corporate hospitality sector - it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity for the industry. I have no doubt that every company that has the ability to offer hospitality will try to do so.
If you look at past sporting one-offs in the UK - the 1991 Rugby World Cup, Euro '96 and the 2002 Commonwealth Games - they have all been huge successes for hospitality and the opportunities afforded by these Games will easily surpass all of those.
You only have to consider the breadth of events involved, not to mention opportunities such as the opening and closing ceremonies. Away from the obvious sports in the stadium, there are great opportunities for non-core areas where Britain traditionally does well, such as rowing and equestrian events.
LORIAN COUTTS, DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS, B&Q
London winning the 2012 Games has created a fantastic opportunity for B&Q as a partner of the British Olympic Association until Beijing 2008.
B&Q's Olympic programme is designed to link the synergy between the Olympic movement and our own "you can do it" ethos. London winning the right to host the Games in seven years time epitomises that, and we will capitalise on the feel-good factor to activate our programme to motivate and inspire employees, customers and business partners.
B&Q will incorporate the Olympics in all communications, create unique promotions and retail opportunities, develop schemes to drive commercial benefit and utilise Team B&Q, our own squad of Olympians and aspiring Olympians, to inspire our local communities and staff.
MARENTHE TINDAL, GROUP ACCOUNT DIRECTOR, LIME
Overall, I think getting the games will have a fantastic and positive impact on promotional marketing.
Having done all the experiential work for the bid, we certainly hope we'll be working with London 2012 again.
From the bid team's point of view, I think it needs to beware of brands jumping on the bandwagon, and ensure that the Games are not overshadowed by them. It has happened before with events like the World Cup and in my view, such associations create negativity.
This goes for brand owners too - they need to add value to their brands and must ask themselves whether there's a strong enough reason for linking with the Olympics.
With the focus on health, activity and youth there are obviously a great number of positive opportunities, but any links have to be credible.
EXPERT VIEW: SPONSORSHIP AND EMOTIONAL INVESTMENT
The love of sport, and the world's love for the Olympic Games, gives brands a fantastic platform on which to establish long and meaningful relationships with consumers.
Sponsorship is an obvious route to exploit London's 2012 win. But with a seven-year lead time and, more pertinently, prohibitive rights fees - for Beijing 2008, the Chinese-specific brands are paying a reported £40million per deal - it is just as well it isn't the only avenue. Brands that have successfully piggy-backed on a major sporting event without being directly associated to it are familiar to all. From Linford Christie's Puma contact lenses at the 1996 Olympics, Nike's football campaign and Pepsi's use of David Beckham in its Gladiator advert, brands can successfully provoke the same emotions and goodwill that any direct sponsorship can deliver.
But in our experience with sporting events, the core emotional triggers for consumers are national pride and competitiveness - these are the foundations on which brands should build.
Links with sport and various sporting bodies are powerful bridges in harnessing the public's euphoria immediately after the capital's win and brands are already using these.
As plans for 2012 get underway, savvy brands will look now at forging promotional associations with grassroots initiatives, community-focused schemes, sporting bodies, equipment provision, athletes' development, etc. Such tie-ins will deliver powerful messages as they develop. By offering consumers opportunities to contribute, share in the sense of national pride and the desire to deliver success, brands can reap the rewards of facilitating the UK's public support for the 2012 London Games.
Cameron Day is new projects director of brand sponsorship agency The Works London.
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