Gold medal winning PR

Well, the 30th Olympiad is over, and I can confess to a mighty hole in my life for the next couple of weeks until the Paralympics begin. What a great couple of weeks, London in all its glory, our athletes performing beyond our wildest expectations, and the biggest boost to national pride since, well, ever?

The games have turned out to be a huge success, despite dire forewarnings of transport hell, security concerns, blown budgets and Orwell-esque branding guidelines. None of the chaos predicted materialised, and even the weather, for the most part, behaved itself.

Verging on a PR disaster as the games approached, with the G4S debacle at its height and the back and forth over sponsorship deals at its loudest, I admit to being more than a little sceptical about the Games. And I was seriously worried about how the commute to work may be affected. Now, I’m a full on Olympic convert, cheering at athletes on the TV, crying at our many medal ceremonies, and desperately trying to get home in time for the water polo.

What has precipitated this about face, in which I am not alone? Have LOCOG managed to pull off the PR coup of the century and brainwash us all into an Olympic fervour?

Well, the short answer is no. The biggest boost to the Olympics success was simply the sheer excellence of our athletes’ performances. It’s hard to watch the brilliance of Bradley Wiggins, the euphoria of Jessica Ennis and the majesty of Mo Farah without feeling the swell of national pride. And no small amount of praise must go to the tens of thousands of Olympic volunteers making the games run smoothly.

So LOCOG really can’t claim all the credit for the triumphant games. In fact, only largely negative stories throughout the Olympics were laid at LOCOG’s door. Particularly in relation to the empty seats, Olympic lanes, and five-star hotel residences for Jacque Rogge et al. This was particularly evident on Twitter and other social networks, otherwise brimming with praise for Team GB.

What does this tell us? It tells us that sometimes you can get lucky in PR, but it is very, very rare. Good results are down to hard work, and strategy. LOCOG’s strategy didn’t seem right from the start, and their handling of negative media attention in the run-up, and throughout, was ineffectual. So they got lucky, lucky that Team GB performed so wonderfully, and were a charismatic, delightfully un-media trained bunch.

This kind of ‘get lucky’ approach in PR only really works if you’re someone like Apple. It doesn’t really matter what Apple do or what the press say, people still buy it, and buy into it. Ultimately it’s down to having such a winning product portfolio. LOCOG’s portfolio, if you will, was people. The athletes, the coaches, the crowds and the many volunteers are what made the London Olympics so successful.

But back in the real world, most of us aren’t Apple, or (unfortunately) Jessica Ennis, so what do we do? Well, we work hard, plan hard, and ultimately, earn results.