To ensure that only the companies that pay millions of dollars to be official Olympic sponsors enjoy the benefits of exposure in Olympic venues, organizers have covered the trademarks of nonsponsors with thousands of little swatches of tape.

In years past, many companies tried “guerilla marketing” attempts to grab some ‘un-paid’ media attention, so I can understand the organizers’ efforts. And in China, I’m sure it’s a bit more easy for the organizers to control such things than in, say, a country with civil liberties that is not ruled by a totalitarian government.

Despite their best laid plans, I can think of at least four brands (or, in one case, issues) that have received significant exposure (for U.S. TV viewers, at least) from the Olympics for little (or no) media-dollars or “paid” sponsorship.

1. Kinesio: Kinesio, as blogged yesterday at NYTimes.com, has gotten hours of airtime in return for providing 50,000 rolls of its all-cotton, colorful athletic tape that has been displayed on beach volleyball player Kerri Walsh.

2. Microsoft: From the “as long as they spell your name right” department, the guest appearance at the opening ceremonies by the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) at least let the world know what operating system was used by the producers to put on the $300 million production.

3. Facebook: Facebook received major mojo from Michael Phelps as Bob Costas kept referring to how many fans he had on the site. The “number of fans” meme has been picked up by bloggers and main-stream news media. Had Phelps been a more savvy marketer, he would have cut-off Costas and said, “Swimroom.com is where people can find me.” (Swimroom is a “social network for swimmers” that Phelps endorses.)

4. Protesters: Attempts by Chinese officials to quiet Free Tibet protesters have gained their cause significant exposure in the west. Barring Joey Cheek from entering the country to protest China’s Darfur policies provided him an even better platform.

Can you think of others? Comment below if you can.

Sidenote: I haven’t been to the Masters Golf Tournament in several years, but the times I did, it was the most sponsor logo-free sporting event I have ever attended. The Masters logo is displayed tastefully throughout the course, but sponsor logos (I think Cadillac and Travellers Insurance were the only sponsors) were limited to a display area near the club house. While the organizers couldn’t prevent the players from displaying brands on their clothing and bags, they went as far as requiring that Cokes be served in green cups and at the vendor stands, the Coca-Colo logos on the drink dispensing machines were masked.

Once in a while, I realize just how much of a magazine geek I am. When I saw the Michael Phelps Sports Illustrated cover this morning, I didn’t think about the iconic poster of Mark Spitz. I recalled the Life magazine cover of Don Schollander that appeared after the 1964 Olympics when I was in the fifth grade. I guess things make a big impression on you when you’re 10 years old.

Some of the champions were able to redirect their drive into professional careers (Eric Heiden is a surgeon, for example) and entrepreneurship while others seem to fall off a cliff or live their lives as if they’re a character in the Bruce Springsteen song, “Glory Days.”

It doesn’t take winning an Olympic Gold Medal to find oneself wondering, “What next?”

This morning on NPR, I also heard a story about the challenge many soldiers returning home from war face in transitioning back into civilian life. I’ve read recently that it takes new corporate executives twice as long to transition into new jobs as previously thought — and many never do, often fixated on how things were done at their previous company.

The solution? I believe there must always be a goal in front of you. Something you are moving towards. Make it a big goal. Make sure it involves skills you don’t have so you’ll be required to learn and practice new things. Make sure it requires you to have an open mind and stimulates your curiosity. At the same time, make sure it’s something that requires you to have the same focus and discipline that got you to where you are today.

It’s great that you have been a champion. That you were a success at something previously. That you were at the top of your class, made lots of money or led a big department at Procter & Gamble. But if that’s how you see yourself, you’re looking in the rearview mirror and worse, you’re not propelling yourself forward, you’re coasting.

What’s your goal? What’s next?

1. if you initiated the call and it drops you call the other person back.
2. if you received the call and it drops you just wait for the call back.

From Richard Wolpert via Joi Ito, who suggests we should all pass it on.

Of course, like every rule, this has an exception. If you are a student or young adult and you’re talking with your parents on a cell phone and your incoming minutes cost less than the minutes you initiate, wait for them to call back.

If you read this blog, you can guess from earlier this month that the story is about Mygazines.com, a site that is reportedly on servers in Anquilla that enables users to share scans of articles from magazines. As I suggested when I first ran across the site on July 22, it was only a matter of time until the site became a take-down notice magnet.

The AP story rounds up all of the potential legal actions magazine publishers can take — and the walls they could run into. It also quotes a July 29 press release on the Mygazines.com website where “John Smith” (its creator) claims, “its copies are no different from magazines shared in doctor’s office or salon.”

As I noted in my August 5 post, magazine publishers love the “pass-along” sharing of print versions of magazines as it is part of the circulation they report to advertisers. What I didn’t mention was that a new media niche of what the auditing organization ABC calls e-publications or e-periodicals is available that provides magazine publishers with a digital-version distribution alternative that can be audited and, in some cases, DRM-protected. In other words, Mygazines.com is likely perceived more as a threat to the magazine publishers’ own plans for e-magazine distribution rather than as a threat to the printed version. Note, however, that is my interpretation — maybe some magazine publishers actually do think a digital version and paper version of a magazine are the same thing. (Disclosure: Hammock Inc. embraces all media. We produce e-magazine versions and editions and would publish smoke-signals if readers and readers and clients wanted them.)

Another thing: The AP story says they tried to contact “John Smith” but he wouldn’t respond. I’ve found that jsmith@mygazines.com will respond if you blog about him.

Related: An article in the New York Times looks at how some media companies are working with Google to generate revenues from “pirated content” appearing on YouTube.

Earlier this week, Slate ran a story that picked up a theme written about often — that small companies Google acqhires often end up in a black hole. I have no personal insight into what happens at Google and I can’t say I agree 100% with him, but Jason Fried — who’s company, 37 Signals, has probably had plenty of opportunities to be acquired — has a great quote in the article that is worth repeating:

“You take great talents and you put them in this big company and they get drowned out by all this policy stuff,” Fried argues. “Putting a small company in a big company kills what was good about the small company.”

Here’s a MyBusiness magazine story I wrote about Jason in 2006 that explored his preference for keeping his company independent. From the time I spent interviewing him for the story and from being a user of his company’s products ever since, I’m glad he provides a balancing point of view to the notion that the only reason to start a business is to flip it. In the narrow niche that is covered by the tech blogosphere, that may be the goal, but for most small businesses in the real world, the magnet is independence and the opportunity to see an idea realized.

There will be no pity from me for those who have sold their startup to Google, only to see it sucked into a blackhole. Their product dreams may have been dashed, but they left with a lifetime’s worth of parting prizes. Next time, they’ll know better what matters.

Featured today on the entrepreneurial niche-idea website, Springwise, ModerNash allows customers to submit their orders on its website, ModerNash.com, and the company will pick up the items in Atlanta and even assemble the furniture (for $25 per hour). They will handle returns (even for customers who didn’t order through ModerNash) and have partnered with some Nashville kitchen and cabinet installers for bigger jobs.

The idea is, conceptually, a bit like other companies that have sprung up to assist people in selling and purchasing things on eBay — concepts Springwise calls “feeder” businesses. I like these ideas because they follow a classic small business success strategy of finding a way to meet a need that is narrow and one where customers quickly become fans if you serve them well.

The obvious threat to ModerNash is that one day IKEA will open a store in Nashville. But by then, I’m sure they will have opened ModernKnoxville.

*Perhaps a commenter can add information about where they are located. Their website does not include that information.

Those of you who know what this means, raise your hands. Okay. That’s what I thought. Actually, I’m not blogging about what the service does. I’m blogging about Fire Eagle’s logo. I’m outraged! Yahoo! would infringe on the Tennessee Titans’ famed “flaming thumbtack” logo. While I’m sure that Yahoo!’s designer intentionally meant to make their logo look like a flaming thumbtack and with the Titan’s designer’s, it was just good ol’ dumb luck, I still think consumers may be confused by the remarkably similar flaming thumbtack images.

To protest Yahoo!’s blatant disregard for my home team’s copyrighted logo, I have decided that when I attend Titans games, I will not use Fire Eagle to manage my location across the internet and on mobile applications.

Simon Dumenco Laments Coming Day When Bloggers Can't Rip-off Pro Photos | Advertising Age
Pardon me, but I don't really get the point of this article. I think it's yet another paint-by-numbers slam against bloggers using statistics he makes up. P.S. Simon needs to bookmark this: http://search.creativecommons.org.
(tags: search copyright blogging)

Pirating the Olympics, Then and Now | Waxy.org
Quote - Because of IOC regulations forbidding international distribution, NBC won't allow you to download, embed, or transcode any videos for your iPod or phone. Is this availability enough to satiate the pirates, and what does the quality look like compared to 2004? Is this availability enough to satiate the pirates, and what does the quality look like compared to 2004?
(tags: vide bittorrent olympics2008)