So you want to be an Olympic sponsor?

Naturally, many brands do, given the major international stage of the competition. Some buy into the Olympic Partner Programme, the highest level of sponsorship that grants brands global marketing rights to the games, while some may choose to sponsor individual athletes.

That doesn’t mean those brands working directly with athletes are exempt from the International Olympic Committee’s governance: Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter lays out rules brands and athletes must follow if they want to pursue their own sponsorships during the “Games Period,” which, for the upcoming Paris games, will span from July 18 through August 30.

“Brands are already starting to put together their playbooks, to talk to their marketing teams, about what they can and cannot do,” Michael Isselin, partner in the entertainment and media group at law firm Reed Smith, told Marketing Brew. “As with everything in marketing, especially in social media, and especially something as timely and as short-focused as the Olympics, these things are fast and furious, and the marketers need and want answers right away.”

Isselin, who has advised brands on five Olympics starting with Rio 2016, shared some considerations when activating around this summer’s Olympic Games based on his experience with past Olympics and ahead of the release of USOC Rule 40 guidance for Paris 2024, which is now available to read here.

What should brands in the US know about Rule 40 headed into Paris 2024?

In the US, there’s a two-pronged approach with respect to permission. The athlete has to register, and then the non-sponsor brand has to register. The important thing to remember and to think about with the US is that the brand registering actually creates a legal contract between the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee and the non-sponsor brand to comply with those guidelines…For Tokyo 2020, they got as specific as saying a brand that is registered for Rule 40 permission could post one singular congratulatory post on social media, and it could not use any imagery of the city, couldn’t reference the city, couldn’t reference the Olympics.

Keep reading our conversation with Isselin here.—AM

You’re already reading the newsletter, but did you know you can also listen to and/or watch the wittiest and smartest takes on business news?

Morning Brew Daily hosts Neal Freyman and Toby Howell have you covered on everything you need to know before your morning cup of coffee, from the latest headlines on the economy to explanations of viral TikTok trends.

You’ll look so smart in front of your friends.

New episodes are released every weekday at 7am ET. Check ’em out on YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

Rachel Karten, a social media consultant and author of the newsletter Link in Bio, knows a thing or two about what works online.

Prior to becoming a consultant for brands like Cava and West Elm, she managed social media at Bon Appétit and Epicurious. She’s also built an audience on her own social accounts, where she has 70k followers on Instagram and 8.5k on X, in addition to 52k newsletter subscribers.

We spoke with Karten about some of the social trends she’s watching going into 2024 and the things she hopes stay firmly rooted in the past.

What’s in?

• Being relatable and funny…when appropriate: “The ‘unhinged’ brand really took off [in 2023], but I don’t think that makes sense for every brand,” Karten said. “It’s about finding those, like, universal truths, those relatable moments, to connect with your audience.” Duolingo joking about language-learning or the National Park Service joking about camping work because they relate back to what they can offer people and don’t focus on a specific product, she said.
• Treating TikTok like TV: Having a slate of characters that people enjoy and can relate to—like they do at NPR’s Planet Money or the Washington Post—is one way to draw people back to a TikTok channel, Karten said. “Brands that are creating episodic content and creating recurring formats [are] creating a really ownable strategy that’s theirs,” she added. But Karten recommends making sure that any new characters for brands are compensated appropriately, and that it’s not just someone on the social team’s second job.
• Being strategic about platforms: While it can be tempting to join every BeReal, Lemon8, or Lapse that gets released, Karten said to exercise restraint: “Especially if you’re a one- to two-person social team, really choose the platforms that make sense for your audience and go deep there. That, to me, is a better strategy than spreading yourself too thin and showing up mediocre across every platform.”

Read more of Karten’s predictions here.—KH

Each week, we spotlight Marketing Brew readers in our Coworking series. If you’d like to be featured, introduce yourself here.

Priscilla Barolo is head of marketing and communications at Neat, a video technology company. Before joining Neat, she was head of communications at Zoom.

Favorite project you’ve worked on? Zoom’s IPO—and probably not for the reason you’d think. It exposed me to aspects of business I knew little to nothing about. Legal, finance, investment banking, compliance. I know I’m doing something exciting if I have to Google half the terms that are being thrown around in the room. That was me in pretty much every meeting for nine months straight. What I brought to the table was a deep understanding of the company, its culture, and its customers. Others involved in the process brought their knowledge of technical aspects, business processes, finance, and more. Coming together as a team, we pulled off impressive results. The experience taught me I didn’t have to “fake it ’til I make it” to be a valuable contributor; I just brought my own perspective and experience to the table.

What’s your favorite ad campaign? I loved the Burger King campaign that showed a burger getting moldy to show it has no preservatives, though I was apparently alone in that. It was a disastrous campaign. People want to see yummy burgers. It was a good lesson to not get too clever, but I do love it when people are clever. A couple of years ago, Twilio Segment had billboards up in San Francisco that said, “Good morning, LA!” I thought it was a great way to show the importance of using “good” data in business decisions.

One thing we can’t guess from your LinkedIn profile: I have severe ADHD. It appears in some unexpected ways, like, I destroy approximately one fidget toy per week through overuse, and I tend to fly into meetings like a bat out of hell. But in other ways, it’s a bit of a superpower. I am high-energy and flexible. I easily switch between tasks all day. I make decisions quickly. I am mindful that everyone digests information in all kinds of ways. It can’t all be webinars and e-books because some of us just won’t consume that kind of content. We need the 30-second video, the infographic, etc. I feel fortunate to be in a profession that works well for my brain. If I were a grant writer or an accountant, I’d probably lose my mind daily.

Read more here.

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Mergers and acquisitions, company partnerships, and more.

• Authentic Brands Group acquired shoe brand Sperry for an estimated $130 million.
• Accenture Song acquired the design and tech agency Work & Co for an undisclosed amount.
• Corona Cero 0.0%, AB InBev’s alcohol-free beer, is the official beer of the Paris Olympics, while AB InBev is slated to be the first-ever global Olympic beer sponsor.