Scotiabank is the latest non-Olympic sponsor to draw VANOC’s attention after it launched a campaign featuring three-time Olympian Cassie Campbell in Vancouver yesterday.
The Show Your Colours initiative asks Canadians to show their pride through photos submitted to a website.
Bill Cooper, director of commercial rights management for VANOC, said Olympic organizers asked Scotiabank to postpone the campaign until after the Games.
“Our serious concern is of the public being misled into believing there is an association between the 2010 Winter Games and their campaign,” he said.
“Our sponsors are critical to the success of the Games. Quite simply we cannot run the Games without their support.”
Other companies that have been rebuked for what VANOC calls ambush marketing campaigns include Lululemon and Pepsi.
The yoga retailer launched a clothing line called “Cool Sporting Event That Takes Place in British Columbia Between 2009 & 2011 Edition,” and the soft-drink maker started a campaign for a new cheer, “Oh-Eh-Canada-Go.”
