London 2012 begins hunt for £50m Olympic sponsors

LONDON – The London 2012 team is hunting for top-level sponsors prepared to pay £50m each toward the cost of running the London Olympic Games.

The committee is looking for 10 top-level sponsors, with negotiations to be held in four key groups -- automotive, telecoms, banking and utilities.

Although there are six years until the games, the organising team said they they were keen to recruit sponsors as soon as March this year.

Speaking at a summit for almost 300 delegates from trade bodies and companies in London, Sir Keith Mills, deputy chairman of the 2012 organising committee, said UK commercial sponsorship should produce 35% of the £2bn needed for the London 2012 Games.

The top-level deals will have to complement the International Olympic Committee's official sponsors, which include Coca-Cola, Visa, Samsung and McDonald's.

Mills said that 20 to 30 sponsors would be sought in the second-level deals and up to 50 in the third level and that almost £80m of that money will be ploughed back into UK sport.

"Sponsors have a pivotal role to play not only in funding the games, but in helping London achieve a predicted operating surplus of up to £100m, 80% of which will be ploughed back into sport in the UK," he said.

Tessa Jowell, secretary of state for media, culture and sport, also revealed that £3bn would be spent on the physical infrastructure of the games, which should benefit the economy as a whole.

Jowell said: "This doesn't mean an outdated 'Buy British' campaign, but we do want to ensure that the public money spent on the games is recycled into the British economy wherever possible to the benefit of British-based companies and the people working in them."

Brendan Barber, general secretary of the Trade Union Congress, said: "The Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are an opportunity for British athletes, businesses and working people to deliver a world-class performance.

"For the London games to succeed, unions and business need to work together. And our measure of success will be a high-quality games delivered by well-trained staff working with employers to get the job done on time and safely."

A follow-up summit for companies and outside workers will be held in Leeds in July, the committee announced.

If you have an opinion on this or any other issue raised on Brand Republic, join the debate in the .

You have

[DAYS_LEFT] Days left

of your free trial

Subscribe now

Get a team licence 

 Give your teams unrestricted access to in-depth editorial analysis, breaking news and premium reports with a bespoke subscription to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10.

Find out more

Market Reports

Get unprecedented new-business intelligence with access to ±±¾©Èü³µpk10’s new Market Reports.

Find out more

Looking for a new job?

Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day.

Create an Alert Now