Hasta La Creative!

But other marketers complained that the USOC remains too restrictive. New Balance, which is not a sponsor, won approval only to use “generic athlete stories and business-as-usual storytelling in our marketing campaigns,” a spokeswoman said. “We are proud to have more than 70 global athletes qualify for the Summer Games and we continue to find the IOC’s Rule 40 extremely challenging to work with as a brand who just wants to celebrate the many amazing achievements of our hardworking global athletes.”

Sports brand Brooks also sought a waiver, “but we weren’t prepared to share the level of detail USOC asked from us in order for us to get one,” according to the company. Nuun, which sells electrolyte-enhanced drink tablets and has six Rio-bound athletes on its roster, didn’t even try. “There’s a plethora of words you can’t say,” said Nuun CEO Kevin Rutherford, citing as examples “medal” and “Rio.”

“These are generic words and you can’t say them,” Mr. Rutherford said. “Do we not think we’ve pushed the boundaries too far?”

Continue reading at AdAge.com