Twitter is working with London Olympics’ organisers to thwart ‘ambush marketing’

As we edge closer to the 2012 London Olympic Games, there is a growing fear amongst organizers that the carefully-controlled marketing and official sponsorships associated with the event will be ambushed by brands hell-bent on getting themselves free coverage.

With that in mind, Twitter has agreed to help combat this as part of ongoing talks with the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG), reports MediaWeek.

With official partners such as Coke, Visa and McDonald’s paying millions to have their names associated with the prestigious event, letting them use the Olympics logo and otherwise link their brands to the sporting extravaganza, it’s thought that the 2012 Olympics will see some of the strictest anti-ambushing rules ever enforced. And with social media more prevalent than ever, LOCOG is paying special attention to digital platforms which could be used by brands to springboard themselves into the global limelight.

Whilst the specifics aren’t yet known, Twitter is apparently “working with LOCOG to ensure that the same rules that apply everywhere else will apply to Twitter.” This will likely mean that non-sponsors won’t be allowed to buy promoted tweets against hashtags such as #London2012.

As Reuters reports, in the build up to the 2012 Olympics, around 600 ambush marketing cases have been recorded around the Olympics’ brand over the past four years, and it’s likely this will intensify as we close in on the event this summer.