You, too, can sell Chicago
ADVERTISING | City Olympics group opens up marketing effort to residents
After the release last week of the considerably less-than-stellar "Chicago Surprises" video -- shown to International Olympic Committee members in Beijing -- came word Wednesday the Chicago 2016 Committee is reaching out to all the city's citizens and asking them to create their own video take (60 seconds or less) on why Chicago is the best place to host the 2016 Olympics.
A special channel has been established at Chicago2016.org that will allow video makers to post their finished efforts online. The public will vote for their favorite among the posted films, and the best of the lot will be "highlighted for special recognition." No word yet on what that means.
(AP)
This kind of public participation gambit is nothing new in the world of marketing. For at least a couple of years now, all manner of brands have encouraged people to do the hard creative work that once was done by smart, sophisticated marketing departments and ad agencies. But since so many of those entities seem to be creatively bankrupt, companies increasingly have turned to laymen on the street to see if they had any bright ideas to share.
If enough people take the committee up on its invitation to create videos, the Chicago 2016 Committee might discover something useful. But whatever comes of the videos, the powers that be need to get down to the serious business of fashioning a first-rate marketing campaign if they are serious about getting the Olympics.
While the Wall Street Journal on Monday was busy pontificating in a front page story about Michael Phelps' endorsement strategy in the wake of his history-making Olympic gold medal haul, CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell put a simple question to the swimmer himself in Beijing: What endorsement deal would he most like to have? Without hesitating, Phelps said a fast-food deal -- without naming any particular names. Of course, that was something the Journal somehow managed to leave out of its story.
When we heard Phelps make the remark, we immediately called McDonald's, whose chief spokesman, Walt Riker, said the company is a "big fan" of Phelps. We then wrote a story suggesting an endorsement deal could be in the offing. Subsequently, Rovell read our story as he was lining up an interview with Phelps' agent, Peter Carlisle. Rovell told Carlisle about Tuesday's Sun-Times story, and Carlisle said "if there's one deal, he's [Phelps has] always said it'd be McDonald's."
We tried to reach Riker again Wednesday for his reaction to Carlisle's comment, but we didn't hear back. Maybe he was busy getting the deal with Phelps done. Or else getting the Wall Street Journal up to speed on what kind of endorsement deal Phelps really is interested in cutting.
: