Making the most of the Olympic opportunity
Posted 9 April 2008 at 8:52AM by Ian Betteridge in Investment and finance
Sir Martin Sorrell is a very smart man. The head of communications services company WPP not only runs a business with annual revenue of over £6 billion, but he has proved himself a bit of a business guru.
Sorrell's theory is that, for the world of advertising at least, the existence of huge events like the Olympics, US Presidential elections and football World Cup which take place every four years cushions the industry from downturns.
These quadrennial events require big companies to spend a lot on advertising, and because of the cycles they take place in, only one year in every four - when there are no big events happening - is truly dangerous for his business. That year, 2009, is the one to watch out for.
Of course, in the UK we have a big quadrennial event coming to our backyard - the 2012 Olympics. And advertising isn't the only industry that will benefit from it. In fact, even small businesses could see some growth in income, if they start working on it now.
London 2012 has already put together a web site giving full details of the kinds of contracts that are on offer, with many up for tender this year. Companies can register an interest in bidding on the CompeteFor web site - and with a budget of £5.3 billion just for building an infrastructure, there's a lot of business out there to bid for.
Tags: 2012 Olymic games
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