After all the years of doubt, rows about the site, the budget and, more recently, security, who can now reasonably argue that the London 2012 Olympics have been anything other than a massive triumph for Britain on the international stage?
Aside from deliverables they couldn’t control down to the finest detail (like contractors failing to deliver on oversold promises), my experience of the organisation (shared by most commentators, including IOC President Jacques Rogge) was that it was excellent.
From the Get Ahead Of The Games transport website managing expectations about transport delays to nudge commuters to use alternate routes or not travel…in order to minimize problems (which worked in my experience), the Game venues signage on the Tube and the controversial Olympic Road Network to simple things like having more female spectator toilets than male and their excellent maintenance, the Games were a great example of how well Britain can deliver project-managed services — something we’ve always been good at but which the Games will have given a great taste of to top-level decision-makers from around the world. As Lord Coe & David Cameron have said, we showed the world we can earn the gold medal for delivering “right” on world-class projects.
A key part of that was harnessing the best of Britain in the energy and motivation of the volunteers, the rightly-named ‘Games makers’. It seems unanimous that, without exception, they smiled, welcomed and helped in the spirit of generosity that is a key part of what makes Britain great.
Would paid staff have delivered that as well? I’m not sure — research on what drives people suggests the altruism they were fired by is more powerful than simple pay. That said, the paid staff I met (from police and Armed Forces members to Tube staff) were just as polite, happy and helpful too. The ‘spirit of the Games’ infected them too and put a smile on the faces of everyone contributing. It was a contagious smile.
Some of that came from a key part of the British character — support for things that are good and right. That’s what made the crowd in the Olympic stadium applaud Saudi runner Sarah Attar for simply being there and other crowds for supporting the athletes who came to do their best though they had little chance of medalling.
Though none of the volunteers or staff provided their friendly service with future benefit in mind, this experience for overseas visitors to the Games (all round the UK, not just to London) is sure to benefit the country in terms of future tourism and inward investment. The ‘feelgood factor’ in London was amazing and anyone visiting will surely want to come back. If the other cities hosting events matched that, they’ll also benefit.
That intangible feature of the Games brought most of the nation together in joy at the performances of Team GB and admiration of the dedication, hard work and achievement of individual athletes. Just like the Diamond Jubilee (but without the political element that alienates the anti-Monarchists), the ‘feelgood factor’ put a spring in our step, a smile on our faces and helped us, at least for a while, focus on the good things happening rather than the economic gloom we’ll all have to face up to today. Which? found 10% felt better about life in general during the Games.
If brands can create initiatives to reproduce something even close to that, the PR and brand value to them will be huge. But to do so they must firstly be about genuinely helping people. Just like the Games, the PR value comes from something created for its own sake and not just a PR stunt purely about looking good. The PR value follows. People see straight through token gestures like G4S’s £2.5m Forces charity donation. It was good, but reactive and defensive and will largely be written-off unless they show deeper commitment to help those in need.
For me one of the biggest PR lessons from London 2012 is that the best PR events are truly authentic — things with intrinsic social value which have PR value as a secondary benefit. Only once brands can get that, as some have already done, will they be able to create truly great CSR programmes which deliver long-lasting PR value. Yes, we probably bid for the Games entirely for national PR reasons, but by making sure we did it right, the return has been way beyond a simple box-ticking exercise that would have been found out fast (compare with Delhi’s Commonwealth Games).
My favourite bit of the Games legacy? That it reminded us (and the world) that Britain can still be Great. That’s invaluable. If brands can do that they’ll reap huge rewards.
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