Our series of key marcomms trends for London 2012 continues with a look at how quickly brands are turning round sports related activity

Two campaigns from Beijing that caught our eye had more to do with the swiftness in which they were delivered than for outstanding creative work. The ads – chronicling the euphoria and despair that the Olympics constantly deliver – came from Visa and Nike and featured their star endorsers Michael Phelps and Liu Xiang.

Visa ran a pretty-ordinary Michael Phelps spot as part of its Go World campaign prior to and during the games, however after Phelps clinched his seventh gold medal of 2008 in the 200m freestyle, which made him the most decorated Olympian of all time with a staggering 10 gold medals, the brand was quick to trumpet his remarkable achievement.

In the immediate commercial break after the record breaking victory had aired on US TV, Visa rolled out a promo congratulating Phelps on his accomplishment which included footage from Beijing and Morgan Freeman exclaiming: ‘Congratulations Michael, on having won more gold medals than anybody…ever’

While the ad was of course pre-planned by Visa (had Phelps not won gold it planned to show another from the campaign) it was undeniably pertinent and captured the celebratory mood not only of a proud nation, but of a world amazed by one man’s sporting prowess. What was also impressive was that footage of Phelps from the previous day had been incorporated into the commercial.

And proving how on the ball it was with its Olympic marketing strategy, it produced another low latency campaign when Phelps secured his eighth gold medal of Beijing the next day. Again, capturing the mood superbly, Freeman, rather like the rest of the world, was somewhat lost for words by Phelps’ astounding medal haul.

Nike was confronted with the more arduous task of responding to Olympic failure – that of star Chinese hurdler Liu Xiang who limped out of the Birds Nest Stadium, unable to compete due to injury. The brand’s response was prompt, running ads in all the major Chinese papers the following day, which featured a solemn looking Xiang alongside the copy ‘Love Sport Even When it Breaks Your Heart’. While Nike probably knew about Xiang’s injury and may have had the execution ready in case this situation arose, it nevertheless adeptly capitalised on the country’s collective grief and disappointment.

And with more brands producing low latency campaigns (such as Bet 365 with its in-play football odds), we expect this to be a feature of the marketing surrounding London 2012 as brands look to connect with sports fans in almost real-time.