London ( CNN ) -- The streets of London are paved with Olympic gold . Visa Europe , Dow Chemical and Panasonic branded taxis drive down central London 's Oxford Street , now bedecked with Olympic flags and banners . McDonald 's and BT branded telephone boxes stand on street corners , lit by lamp posts emblazoned with the LOCOG sign of the organizing committee . The business Olympics are well underway . Blog : Olympics : Money spinner or dud ? There are eleven global `` top-tier '' sponsors of the games , each paying around $ 100 million for a contract , and 44 other sponsors . These companies are the only ones that can display the London 2012 logo -- or any Olympic branding . The brand police , made up of 280 enforcement officers from the Olympic Delivery Authority , along with a LOCOG brand protection team , will be clamping down on businesses that use pictures of the Olympic rings and words that include `` Olympics , '' `` 2012 , '' `` medals , '' `` gold , '' and even `` London . '' Read also : Is the Olympics worth more than Google ? The $ 100 million price tag to official Olympic sponsorship is well protected , but what will these companies get in return ? According to Luc Bardin , group chief sales and marketing officer of top-tier sponsor BP , the biggest benefit is the association with such a powerful brand . `` Selling petrol is one way in which we express and serve society , but it is by a long distance not the only one , '' he said . `` [ What 's ] incredibly important is the way in which we are part of this country , in other countries ' lives , and in many villages and communities . '' Cadbury is the official `` treat provider '' with a sponsorship covering the UK . Norman Brodie , general manager of the Cadbury London 2012 program , agrees with Bardin . `` It makes fantastic business sense if you can use this to excite people , '' he said . `` It 's the catalytic property , the transformational property of being a part of the Olympics -- that 's the gold dust , the magic dust and what we have done is sprayed it around . '' The Olympics is the second most valuable brand in the world , after Apple , according to a report by Brand Finance . They calculate the Olympic brand is worth more than all of its other major sponsors -- including Samsung , GE and Coca-Cola -- put together . They have valued the Olympics brand at $ 47.6 billion , an 87 % increase since the Beijing Olympics in 2008 . Comment : Olympic sponsorship : Must it be so unhealthy ? David Haigh , chief executive of Brand Finance said , `` Companies will cough up large amounts of money to sponsor sports , events , teams and individuals if they believe they are going to get the money back . '' According to Haigh , it is now mainstream for companies to use high level analysis to determine how much of a return they can expect to get from sponsorship of events . `` The Olympics seem to work , '' he said , `` and [ those companies ] are getting bigger and bigger budgets . '' CNN 's Anna Stewart contributed to this article .
The business days are now well under way -- and the streets of London are paved with branding gold . There are eleven global ` ` top - tier '' sponsors of the games , each paying around $ 100 million . The investments are fiercely protected by the police . The attraction is n't just sales -- it 's being involved in the second most valuable sport in the world .