When the Olympic Games open tomorrow, there will be advertising connected to the Games — advertisers pay big bucks for that — and there will be what could be called "Off Olympics" advertising. These are advertisers who are linked by association, and benefit accordingly. The linkage is informal and unofficial — that usually means they pay nothing for Olympic linkage.
You have to give Royal Caribbean high marks for its Off Olympics campaign.
Number one, it's going to be humorous. Number two, it has name value. Number three, it's clever.
The ads will start running tomorrow…coincidentally, the day of the Opening Ceremonies in London. They'll be on stations owned and/or operated by NBC, the official Olympic broadcaster, so maybe Royal Caribbean has to loosen a few purse strings for this campaign. Two former Olympians are involved, ex-figure skater Michelle Kwan and ex-diver Greg Louganis. In the campaign, they will be competing on the Oasis of the Seas. Their event?
The deck-athlon.
While neither has been a decathlete, they will face off in 10 events ranging from wall climbing to decorating cupcakes. Two of the events are the ones that made them famous — figure skating and diving. Presumably one of them will win a Royal deck-athlon medal. The other six events are the flow rider, mini golf, zip line, table tennis, basketball and…wait for it…casino.
How the Olympics have changed!
Royal Caribbean Oasis of the Seas
7 nights
November 10, 2012
Fort Lauderdale (return): Labadee, Falmouth, Cozumel
Inside: $799
Cost per day: $114
www.royalcaribbean.com