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Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2070VANOC TO SOON FOCUS ON ITS DETAILED STRATEGY FOR OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC TORCH RELAYS
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) is expected to staff its Torch Relay section of its marketing function with operational management in the next few weeks.
The torch relays are major VANOC projects. For Torino's Games, 10,000 runners took part in the run, each one going about 300 metres (about 1,000 feet) many of them buying their torch, which cost C$460 each. There is significant marketing, security and planning involved with the Torch Relays, particularly corporate marketing. Each runner is expected to have at least one escort for security reasons. VANOC officials have said, for instance, that they want the 2010 torch to pass through every major city in Canada and well as communities in each province and territory, plus numbers of towns and cities in British Columbia.
Their jobs will be to begin major planning for the Relays for the Olympic and Paralympic Games -- there's a Torch Relay for each -- and all the marketing -- and anti-ambush marketing -- that goes along with it. That includes public relations and sponsorship activities that are separate from VANOC's general sponsorship program.
A couple of the key positions of the team that will be involved in the Relay's operations and who will be coming into VANOC's offices first a few weeks from now are the manager of Torch Relay Advance Operations, and the manager of Torch Relay Promotions.
Besides doing the planning, they'll both be travelling with the torches, a process that is expected to take three months, according to initial plans. (There's no word yet on the route.) But they'll be responsible for supervising a large staff that will be involved in the relays, including the recruitment, setting "performance objectives," as well as doing the usual management of people: feedback, motivating and coaching.
The Advance Ops manager, according to VANOC's specific plans, will help develop the celebrations strategies for the route and work with the communities through which the torches travel to coordinate the events that surround the passage of the torch through them, as well work with the security operations for that side of things. The person -- still to be hired but VANOC is sifting through resumes right now -- is also to be responsible for developing the plans for the support caravan that goes with each torch relay, and "alternative transport modes" for it, as well as identifying the technical requirements of relay operations.
The Advance Ops will also deal with local, provincial and federal governments for support services for the relays -- and all the contracts that will involve, not to mention all the supplier services for it. There will also be community celebration planning guides to write, edit, print and distribute, and set up test events.
The Torch Relay Promotions manager is to prepare the image strategies, work out how all the official presentations will take place, deal with all of the sponsorship services, and work on the development of the torch and the uniforms of the runners. The manager, expected to be hired in February or March, will be responsible for media operations, promotions, releases and on-site relay activities. They'll be setting up the ambush-marketing protection programs that will deal with the torch relays. They'll also be dealing with the activities around the sale of branded consumer products from VANOC and sponsors, and that'll include Torch Relay albums, clothing, photos and the like.
This person will work with VANOC's Marketing, Sponsorship and Communications people to develop and implement the sponsorship marketing plan and programs for the relays, supervise the promotional, activation and operational plans of Torch Relay sponsors, work with host, domestic and international broadcasters for the arrangements they need to ensure the relays get lots of publicity -- and also work on media relations, as well as various public-relations firms for the Relays. VANOC expects to select at least one and possibly more PR agencies to help build national publicity and awareness of the Relays. We're told there will be special events connected with launch, route and torchbearer announcements.
BACKGROUND
Here's what VANOC's Bid Book says about the torch relay: "From Olympia, over the North Pole to Canada's high Arctic and on to Vancouver, the Torch Relay will be a people's event covering 15,000 km on foot, dog sled, snowmobile, horse, plane, and most other means of transport known to Canadians. Over a period of 114 days -- one for each year of the modern Olympic era -- more than 7,000 Canadians of all ages and diverse cultures will carry the Torch. Millions more along the route will be touched by the flame as the Olympic spirit is kindled from coast to coast to coast." Note, however that an IOC-commissioned report on how to compact the Games, and issues about nine months ago, recommended the torch relay be kept to within the host country.
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Here's what the the "A guide for business opportunities in the 2010 Winter Games", a publication by VANOC sponsor Royal Bank, says about the Torch Relay, "Kindled by the sun's rays in Olympia, the Olympic flame travels 10 days around Greece before embarking on a voyage to numerous host countries before arriving in Canada and, ultimately, Vancouver. Passed from hand to hand, the Olympic flame travels by bicycle, horse, train, streetcar, canoe, harbour ferry and even dragon boat. Symbolic of the Olympic Games ideal of peaceful competition, the relay attracts eyes. In 2000, it passed within reach of 85% of the Australian population. In Athens, an estimated 260 million people saw it either on television or at a live event. In 2002 in Utah [at the Winter Games], 1.5 million people attended the Torch Relay events, and organizers say they helped make 3,600 business introductions at 10 receptions during the Relay. Business opportunities included hosting visiting officials and guests, catering, special events supplies, signage, event management and city beautification projects."
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What about security for sponsors and torch bearers? The last time there was a torch relay in Canada, for the Calgary Olympics in 1988, there was an aboriginal political protest aimed at the sponsors of the relay. There was mixed publicity of the protest and reaction to it from various government and media, but the public backlash to the protest was "swift and severe," according to a report done for Whistler in 2004. Several aboriginal groups marked stages of the route to Sydney, Australia, in 2000. In 2006, the torch acted as a focus for diverse protest groups ranging from Campaigners for a Free Tibet to anti-globalization demonstrators. Anti-globalization activists focused on the sponsors of the torch relays during both the 2000 Sydney Summer Games and the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics. At the Torino Olympics, these demonstrations became violent. Demonstrators examined the routes to select crowded locations where these was little opportunity for successful intervention by security teams, according to a University of Glascow study. That same study noted the torch procession" creates huge challenges" for security officials. "On the 5th February 2006, TAV protestors in the town of Susa briefly covered the torch with a flag in an attempt to either burn it or to extinguish the flame. More than 1,000 people formed a crowd in which demonstrators were mixed with family groups on a narrow bridge. The runner managed to force through and police arrested the protestors. The procession was then diverted from its intended route through the Val di Susa towns of Bussoleno and Borgone Susa. The police cited 'public order concerns' but the organizers had to insert an additional stage between Oulx and Bardonecchia to accommodate all of the runners who might otherwise have lost their turn carrying the torch. Several hundred protestors carried out their demonstration in Bussoleno despite the absence of the torch. They were able to use a genuine torch that had been stolen during a previous demonstration."
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VISA is expected to be a "presenting sponsor" of at least the Paralympic relay, other sponsors are expected to be Coca Cola and possibly Samsung.
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A report prepared for the City of Richmond's art panel last year recommended suggesting to VANOC that the torch look like a Musqueam aboriginal paddle.
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VANOC's vice-president of sustainability, Linda Coady says VANOC has "an aspiration" to focus on aboriginal tourism and sport, with a focus on youth, for BC and Canada, through the torch relay and through legacies. "We want that torch to land in aboriginal communties, and that aboriginal youth in those communities have a chance to participate in the torch run."
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 4, 2007
Morgan:News:2010 |VANOC| #2069
CONTRACT AVAILABLE FOR DISPATCHED-CAR PASSENGER SERVICES, BUT THINGS WILL GO BETTER WITH GM, COKE -- AND DRUG TESTING
The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games (VANOC) has decided to contract out its overflow requirements for dispatched passenger vehicles in the Greater Vancouver, Whistler, Squamish and Pemberton areas.
VANOC is offering a formal Request for Proposals from companies for a contract that will run from March to at least until the end of 2008, with the option for annual extensions. But there are a couple of catches: companies interested in submitting a proposal have to use General Motors cars, and the drivers can only offer their passengers beverages with brands owned by Coca-Cola. That's because GM Canada and Coca-Cola are corporate sponsors of VANOC.
The RFP, which closes January 19 and the contract to be awarded in mid-February, is for ad-hoc services before the Games. "Airport transfers are expected to be the bulk of the requirement," says VANOC, "however general-transportation services will include the provision of transportation between venues, and transfers between locations [in the service] areas. The services must be provided using passenger vehicles only, including sedans, cars, standard seven-passenger vans and 15-passenger vans, but excluding busses and mini-busses. Services will be provided on an if, as and when required basis." VANOC says it may occasionally request a luxury car or SUV, even though it's oriented toward environmental sustainability and its policy on that is included in the RFP, but, it adds, "This is not solely a 'luxury car service' requirement nor a requirement for bus services."
VANOC notes that it has access to a number of vans, driven by volunteers for the most part, that are provided by GM Canada as part of its sponsorship, and these will be used first. The ad-hoc contract will only come into play when there's a fairly large demand for scheduled services, such as during conferences that VANOC expects to host.
VANOC says its needs generally fall into two groups: One-off situations and large-event requirements. For the individual situation, "There are a number of guest visits where small numbers of attendees will require services to be scheduled intermittently, including scheduled pick-up and drop-off of VANOC employees and representatives doing business with VANOC." The large event situation involves "events where there are 10 or more incoming guests, and may include conference attendees" or "services may also be required during test events, which are national or international sport competitions held to test VANOC's venues and operational readiness to conduct the Games. These events may require heavy reliance on car services."
VANOC wants the cars to be clean inside and out, and modern, with no advertising on them, with a vehicle maintenance program. The drivers have to be professionally dressed, preferably with a uniform though it's not a necessity, carry "communication devices", and it expects the supplying company to ensure it maintains drug- and alcohol-testing programs for its personnel.
The RFP documentation is available on BC Bid.
BACKGROUND
Here are the GM brands that must be used: GMC, Saab, Pontiac, Saturn, Cadillac, Buick or Chevrolet.
RESOURCES
Here is a link to the lengthy list of brands owned by Coca Cola:
www.thecoca-colacompany.com/brands/brandlist.html
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 4, 2007
Morgan:News:2010 |Moguls| #2068
Here are three moguls we ran into today:
FEDERAL CABINET SHUFFLE BYPASSES 2010 MINISTERS
The Canadian prime minister, Stephen Harper, today made some changes to his cabinet, but the minister in charge of the Canadian government's responsibilities for the 2010 Winter Olympics, David Emerson, remained in place. Bev Oda, the minister of the Heritage Department, which controls the money flow to and from VANOC for the federal government via the Olympics Secretariat, also retained her position. Howver, Ottawa's minister of Sport, Peter Van Loan, appointed just last November and with which VANOC also worked with, has been moved from that post to become "Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister for Democratic Reform". A new position, the position of Secretary of State for Sport, which is a sort of specialized cabinet minister a step down from a full fledged minister, is newly appointed Helena Guergis. She will serve as a junior minister, and will "assist and consult" with Foreign Affairs minister Peter MacKay and Emerson, "on a variety of issues involving foreign policy." As secretary of state for Sport, she will oversee Canada’s sports organizations, including Sport Canada, and will make decisions regarding funding for various sport groups. She will also work with Oda. Guergis was first elected to the House of Commons in 2004 and re-elected in 2006. Last February, she was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to Emerson. VINCOR'S NEW PARENT BEGINS ACCOUNTING FOR COSTS, REVENUES
Constellation Brands, which owns VANOC's latest sponsor, wine merchant Vincor Canada, today reported the effects of its purchase of the Canadian company last June, it's ninth purchase since 2000. Chief executive officer Richard Sands, 55, is combining wineries and distribution systems to integrate Vincor's operations, according to information from the company that was part of its report on. Acquisition-related costs for integration rose six-fold to $9.5 million during the quarter. Sales increased 18% to US$1.5 billion in the period ended Nov. 30, helped by the acquisition of Vincor International Inc., the Fairport, New York-based company said in a statement. Interest expense surged 52% to US$73.1 million primarily on costs to finance last year's US$1.1 billion acquisition of Vincor. Overall, though, Constellation's revenues were down, falling the most in four years to US$107.8 million, or US$0.45 cents a share, from US$109 million, or US$0.46 cents, a year earlier. Constellation lowered its projection for the year ending Feb. 28 for a second time, primarily because of a glut of Australian wine in Europe that hurt the company's sales, although currency fluctuations helped offset that issue somewhat.SKI CROSS IN 2010: THE REVOLUTION IS 'ALMOST COMPLETE'
Quote without comment, from today's issue of the Boston Globe newspaper, in which columnist Tony Chamberlain writes: "...In the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, the revolution [of skiing] will be complete when the sport of ski cross makes its debut. Follow the evolution: First there was Alpine ski racing through gates (ignoring the real start of skiing in Nordic and jumping). This ski racing became rather static, split between an emphasis on all-out speed and linking a series of technical turns. Rarely were skiers airborne, and, in fact, recreational skiers were routinely busted by ski patrollers for jumping in public terrain. When snowboarding was making its growth move through the '80s, one strain of development came from skateboarding, a sport dedicated to performing tricks while leaping in the air. So the focus of the first boarding competition came down to the halfpipe, with one of the top point criteria being "amplitude" -- the height of the jump. In boarding, jumping (and of course doing airborne tricks and landing artfully) is the heart of the sport. A hybrid sport really developed when snowboarding devised a terrain race in which several riders race together down a course over jumps and through turns, employing and avoiding physical contact with other racers as a means to the finish. Though it was racing down a snowy course, this spectacle was as different from traditional ski racing as could be. And in the Vancouver Games, when ski cross makes its debut, the sport will have come almost full circle. The further development of free riding on skis will come as skiers compete in a pipe, performing the same tricks and placing the same value on amplitude that boarders do. That, too, will come to the Olympics at some point."
Originally published to Morgan:News:2010:Gold subscribers on January 4, 2007
