Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Beach Volleyball


Beach volleyball athletes and organizers rarely shy away from tying the marketing of their sport to the bodies of those who play it.
Let’s see: bronze-skinned babes, bikinis, the beach... there’s a natural advertising line there.
But now a pair of British Olympic hopefuls are taking the sex appeal of their sport one step further by slapping barcodes on their behinds.
Zara Dampney and Shauna Mullin have signed a sponsorship deal with the betting firm Betfair and have agreed to sport Quick Response (QR) codes on their bikini bottoms at this week’s tournament in London.

The QR codes, when photographed with a smart phone, direct the photographer to Betfair’s Web site — where they can place their bets on a full array of sporting events.
Betfair public relations head Andy Lulham told the Telegraph that he wanted to place his company’s advertising where cameras focus — and the sun don’t shine.
The London 2012 beach volleyball tournament began Monday and concludes Sunday at the Horse Guards Parade. Earlier this week U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron’s office forced organizers to turn down the tournament’s sound systembecause it interfered with riot meetings.
A note to tournament organizers: you may want to beef up the security when Dampney and Mullin are playing, because not everyone has a massive zoom lens on his or her cell phone camera.

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