The Olympics: A 2-week Commercial or a Chance to Make an Army of Advocates

It always amazes me that so much of the time, the Olympics end up costing the host city more money than they make it.  Montreal, for example, struggled with the debt it incurred on the ’76 games for a generation.

Apparently, many (perhaps even a majority) of Chicagoans understood this phenomenon and, not feeling the need to prove that Chicago is a world-class, modern city, didn’t want the Olympics to come to town.

But it occurs to me that in the pursuit of a global two-week commercial for their cities, hosts may sometimes forget that the people in actual attendance are more than just props for television.  Sure, the number watching at home greatly outweighs the number in actual attendance.

Couldn’t it just be the case though that they are the ones who carry the real and lasting message about the city back to their various countries?

I don’t recall Barcelona being a major vacation destination until it held its Olympics .  At least, it doesn’t seem to have had the cache as a destination until then (or maybe I just missed it).  Rather than being because of television coverage, it could be about the fact that a couple million visitors came back from the Olympics themselves and gushed.

Because honestly, what does TV reveal to you about an Olympic host city?  You mostly see the inside of fancy new facilities that you know were built specially for the occasion.  Between the games themselves, you see postcard shots of the city and feature stories on where to dine on the local delicacies.

But for a couple million people, it’s different.  It’s a live experience.  They get the full spirit and scope of the city, and if it’s good, they probably tell everyone they know when they get back.

If it’s not so good (or as if with Beijing, you get the creepy feeling that the whole thing is being brutally stage managed), no one comes home and gushes.

The right, super-networked New York mid-level PR executive becoming enchanted with your city during the Olympics is probably worth as much as millions of TV impressions.

I’m not an expert in how the Olympics are marketed, but I have a feeling that this is probably undervalued and the TV thing is probably overvalued.

In other words, are the Olympics audience-centered?  I mean, the real audience that’s actually there during the event?

My totally unsolicited recommendation to the organizers at Rio is this: create a marketing organization alongside the rest of your marketing solely designed to delight the in-person visitors during their stay at the games.  The goal should be to turn all of them into evengelists for Rio when they get home.

It’s nice to get the spotlight turned on your city for a couple weeks, but frankly, that’s an expensive indulgence if there’s no ongoing value.

Perhaps the most valuable long-term value is in the people when they go home.  If they’re infected with the virus of love for your city, they’re like a worldwide zombie plague, working on your behalf, converting others.

If they’re not in love with your city, you can be sure people will hear that too.