Open House: Archives

In an effort to protect the official sponsors of the Olympic Games from competition by non-sponsored brands, Beijing is taking the International Olympic Committee (IOC) sponsorship-protection practices to new extremes. According to this WSJ.com article, it's consistent with IOC rules to hide prominent logos belonging to a sponsor's major competitor. But enforcers in Beijing have gone so far as to apply tape across virtually any logo in any place, whether it belongs to a sponsor competitor or not. Wandering through the Olympic grounds you'll see pieces of white tape on elevator button plates, fire alarms and even toilets. There's even an official tape replacement squad to ensure that any piece of tape gone astray is quickly replaced. Which points to the fact that these pieces of tape do tend to "go astray".

There may be no better way to draw attention to an inconspicuous graphic than to cover it with an out-of-place bit of masking tape. Would a similar campaign actually be an effective guerilla-marketing tactic to promote your brand?