The Olympic Games maintains stringent standards, not just about which athletes are qualified to compete, but also with regard to advertising messages: No sponsors may post their advertisements within any Olympic venues. But when BMW agreed to a $63 million sponsorship package, it also volunteered to provide the vehicles used to transport track and field equipment. And those vehicles, designed to mimic the familiar and iconic look of its Mini brand, offer a not-so-subtle form of marketing all around the track.
The Mini vehicles that cart around the javelins, discuses, shot puts, and high jump poles are literally miniaturized. The remote-controlled cars feature the phrase, “It’s a MINI adventure,” though without any logos or explicit mention of the brand. In this sense, they are not violating the rules against any “commercial installations and advertisings signs” in the stadiums where Olympic events take place.
However, the shape of the cars clearly brings to mind the Mini brand. The car company chose to develop its remote-controlled units in this specific shape, and it expressed pleasure with the outcomes. In particular, the global television coverage of the track and field events often focuses on the fun-looking, clever little transport vehicles. Viewers around the world thus are being constantly reminded of the brand and its reputation for fun.
Discussion Questions
- What benefits does the use of Minis at the Olympics offer?
- Are BMW’s marketing efforts at the Olympics ethical?
Source: Emma Hall, “BMW Gets Brand into Olympic Stadium with Mini Minis,” Ad Age, August 9, 2012
Grewal Levy Marketing News 
The use of Minis at the Olympics certainly provided facilitation for the transportation of equipment into the field at no cost as BMW volunteered to provide these, however at the same time these served as advertisement for the brand. BMW should have been limited to their advertising off the field and Olympic venue, with these equipment transportation vehicles the brand certainly stepped out of line ethically as it was unfairly competing for more exposure and recognition than those brands which followed the rules and limited their advertisements to the outside of the venue. Certainly the brand tried to downplay their involvement by keeping their vehicles from explicitly mentioning the BMW brand, however with a product that iconic and tag lines such as “It is a mini adventure,” there is no doubt as to what product is being advertised at the games.
This was a very sneaky advertising technique that BMW used, which definitely brings an ethical dilemma. Without a doubt the idea to make the transportation vehicles as mini Minis was a marketing idea, and marketing is forbidden within Olympic grounds. In my opinion, although BMW did find a very clever loophole that allowed it to advertise in the track and field event, their actions were unethical. If they wanted to take advantage of the Olympic crowds, they could have just made cars with no resemblance to their own, but advertised ethically about how they are the car company trusted in the Olympic games and that they support Olympic athletes. This sort of advertising would be more costly, but would be ethical and would still reach the market that they were trying to.
By putting that slogan on the cars used for the track and field events, BMW was able to get great value for the money they spent to be a sponsor of the Olympics. The use of both the slogan and the design that resembled the Mini enabled BMW to showcase their brand to millions of people both at the stadium and those watching on television. The Olympics is one of the most watched events in the world, and also has very strict advertisement rules. By doing this, I feel BMW received great exposure. Before this article I didn’t even know Mini was a part of BMW, so even if I found out about this because of some controversy, I am still hearing about it. I think the saying goes, “there is no such thing as bad press.” However, the question is raised as to whether this is ethical. In my opinion it is, because BMW followed all the rules. Yeah, they were a little sly in doing this, but they followed all the guidelines that are in place. All in all I think this was a great move by BMW.