Now that the marketing for the 2012 London Olympics is in full force, it is a good time to talk about one important subject for brands: Trademark and Brand Protection. Many brands are trying to capitalize on the hype and popularity of the sporting event to sell their products and services. There’s only one problem, the Olympic Deliverance Committee has set up a task force – appropriately dubbed the ‘brand police’ – whose sole goal is to ensure nobody uses the Olympics’ brand or makes direct reference to it unless they have paid a large sum of money to do so.

Sports events are frequently used as social engineering lures for scams and the 2012 Olympic Games are no different. Over the past few months scammers have been rallying in an effort to steal as much money and information as possible from unsuspecting victims before the start of the 2012 Olympics.

Every company’s worst PR, social media and trademark nightmare seems to be a harsh reality for Shell right now. The brand has been the target of a complex yet brilliant attack on behalf of activist group Greenpeace and the Yes Lab, they created a fake campaign against Shell and it went viral. The hoax campaign included a genuinely looking website – www.arcticready.com - complete with Shell colors and logos, and in it they encouraged visitors to submit suggestions for their next campaign and promote drilling in the Arctic. At the same time, a video was being released of an apparent Shell gala event gone wrong; in it a model oil rig ‘malfunctions’ and sprays oil on shocked attendees while security personnel tries to block the person recording the scene.