BUSINESS: Bid to attract firms falls at first hurdle

[Fiona]

A BID to attract London firms left homeless by the 2012 Olympics to Peterborough has fallen at the first hurdle.

Bureaucrats have stopped Opportunity Peterborough – the group behind the initiative – in its tracks because they say it had no right to use the Olympic rings logo on cards it sent out.

Opportunity Peterborough was launched at the beginning of this month, and organisers hoped to cash in on the popularity of the games by using the famous symbol to attract disgruntled businesses to the city.

More than 300 postcards were designed on the Olympic theme and sent to businesses in East London that were most at risk of having to relocate to make way for new stadia and facilities in the coming years.

But the "wish you were here" style postcards have had to be stopped from being sent out, after Olympics organisers ruled that Opportunity Peterborough was not legally permitted to use their rings symbol on them.

A spokesman for London 2012 said that it was standard practice not to let people use the Olympic logo.

He said: "You can't use the Olympic rings unless accredited by the International Olympic Committee and the host organising committee. It is the same for all the Olympic brands.

"Companies or organisations need legal permission, it's been like this for decades."

The company had planned to send eight cards to various businesses and had a website set up promoting the idea. But with just five sent, the campaign has had to be prematurely stopped and the website closed down.

Today, a spokesman for Opportunity Peterborough said: "The campaign has been extremely successful in generating interest and a number of inquiries. It has now been ended."

He added that the group was still running an advertising campaign in London promoting the cheap property prices in the city and its links to the capital, and that its website gets more than 20,000 visitors a month and has had more than two million hits since it was launched.

peterboroughtoday.co.uk