Making the Olympics a laboratory for new ways to sell a global brand
COUNTDOWN TO THE LONDON 2012
OLYMPIC GAMES
170 DAYS TO GO
GlaxoSmithKline’s head of global brand communication tells Morning Wire why 2012 is win-win for GSK
Q.what was your brand’s primary reason for being involved with the games?
A.As a key British company, we really want to make sure that we can do whatever we can to make the Games a success. Rather than just writing a cheque, we wanted to make a material contribution based on what we’re good at – and what we’re good at is science. What better way to really bring that science to life than to be the official laboratory group services provider for the Games?
The Games this year are going to be more tested than any before. There’ll be 6,000 drugs tests performed across the Olympic and Paralympic Games. What we can provide is the understanding of scale and the technical know-how to deliver that.
This is the first time that a pharmaceutical company has provided the drugs testing services for any Games. What previously would be done is that the organising committee would approach an academic institution or the leading anti-doping centres in that country and pay for the services. In this instance, the London organising committee, Locog, approached our chief executive, Sir Andrew Witty. Because we are the UK’s largest pharmaceutical company and given the ability we have to bring that scale to the testing, it was felt to be a win-win opportunity for us to partner with King’s College London. Scientists from King’s are the ones physically performing all the tests in the laboratory but we are providing the building, the state-of-the-art equipment, the infrastructure, and helping to facilitate everything so the scientists can really focus on the job that has to be done during the Games.
Q.were there any issues that were hard to reconcile to get board approval?
A.Not really. The event was based where our headquarters are; the values of the Olympic and Paralympic Games are very aligned with our own at GSK. At the heart of our values programme is integrity and transparency, which fits very well with the drug-testing and really wanting to maintain the integrity of the Games and the health of the athletes. And we’ve come in as a Tier Three sponsor, which has a relatively modest investment level compared to some of the other partners.
Q.how have you structured your business to maximise olympic opportunities?
A.The Olympic partnership was really the first significant global partnership that we’ve done for GSK at the corporate level. And although the laboratory side started running as soon as the deal was agreed in November 2009, it wasn’t until the middle of 2011 that we started to really focus on how we were going to activate and maximise the opportunities we have, acknowledging that while the external rights are only usable in the UK, we have a global workforce of 100,000 that we can talk to internally. Because of all that, we’ve put together the newly-formed global brand communication team. I’m head of this team, under which falls the Olympics and we’ve just signed a partnership with McLaren as well. This has actually been a real catalyst for the organisation and although we’re not even through the Games yet there’s overwhelmingly been a positive response, so I’m hoping that there’ll only be more of these types of opportunity in the future.
In September last year we put the sign up on our headquarters, which is the biggest sign for the 2012 Games in London. I think 26m cars are going to go past between when we put it up and the Games so it’s a really visible sign of our support.
Q.how are you using the ticket allocation you were able to buy from locog as a sponsor?
A.We are very proud that we understand we are the only partner to be using 100 per cent of our tickets for employees and their personal guests. So we are running a global ticketing competition where you can nominate a colleague of any grade around the world to receive tickets and it’s for demonstration of key ideals which are aligned to the Olympic and Paralympic values of excellence, integrity, friendship and equality.
Q.what are the most crucial commercial opportunities of the games for you?
A.We want to use this with key stakeholders to enhance our reputation and for people to think a bit differently about a big pharmaceutical company, to see GSK really getting in there and using the science that we have in a very real way to help make the 2012 Games the cleanest possible. Also, engaging and having a highly motivated workforce is a very important part of any business. The reaction we’ve seen to date has been unprecedented from all corners of the earth – it went beyond expectations in a very positive way. We’re also investing in legacy by working on education projects, including Scientists in Sport, for secondary students. GSK’s lifeblood is the science and we want it to be a really engaging part of education.
Kerry O’Callaghan is the head of GSK’s global brand communication team.