THE OLYMPICS & BRAND PR
The Olympics is clearly a brand that needs to play close attention to its PR and take a few major steps in order to counter the current negative protests thriving in the media.
Thoughts:
· The Olympic Committee leadership should immediately come out front and center, separating itself from the tainted “China” brand. This needs to be seen as the worldwide Olympics, not the China Olympics.
· Despite politicized calls to the contrary, the Olympics won’t be moved, and I for one don’t believe countries will boycott the Olympics. The bottom line is that there are always contentious issues which exist. These protesters have just been very creative and are doing a good job of making their issues heard and noticed.
· Sponsors don’t spend millions of dollars for additional headaches (human rights in China, Free Tibet, etc.). They all have their own problems. Do you think Visa, or one of the other high profile sponsors, would have wanted their logo on the torch which had police surrounding it?
Quick action needs to be taken to protect the Olympics brand. The longer its leadership waits to address the issue, the more difficult it will become to uphold its reputation.
