Advertisers Who Won Digital Gold – Financial Times

Posted on August 23, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Jessica Ennis mimes the guitar riffs from Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” with a ping pong bat. Victoria Pendleton is dressed as a tiger. Sir Chris Hoy runs down the street in a mask with a Union flag for a cape. The Brownlee brothers shoot each other with water pistols. The Team GB athletes whom the British public took to their hearts during the Olympics clown around endearingly in the YouTube video, which ends with a black screen bearing the discreet message: “Adidas #stagetaken”. Within two days the video, released on the last day of the Olympics, had been viewed more than 1M times and Twitter was buzzing with messages about it – sent and resent by everyone from Sir Chris to Stella McCartney.

“It is an example of using social media very well,” says James Withey, head of brand insight at Precise, the media monitoring company. “It captured people’s imagination and got them talking.” Getting the public talking about their brands was the elusive prize for which most Olympics sponsors were competing during the games. Social media such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube played a larger role than in any previous Olympics, with more than 150m Twitter messages sent over the 16 days of the games.

Full article:
Advertisers Who Won Digital Gold – Financial Times – August 20th, 2012
By Maija Palmer
Link to Financial Times article

New TV Channel to Showcase Minority Sports – Financial Times

Posted on August 21, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Minority sports have struck gold in the wake of London 2012 with a new free-to-air TV channel being lined up to give them increased coverage. London Legacy TV – which has the backing of Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London – will focus on sports that get little airtime between the Olympic Games every four years.

Backers of the station, which will launch on Sky initially, say it will showcase the sports at all levels, from grass roots to elite standard. Highflyer TV, which is developing the station, launched the Racing UK channel and has experience of covering sports such as swimming, diving, fencing and cycling.
John Fairley, chairman of Highflyer Group, said: “The London Olympics has brilliantly demonstrated the huge desire among the British public to watch sports which don’t normally get the showcase on British TV that they deserve.

“London Legacy TV will satisfy the appetite to see more of these sports that the Olympics has created, as well as encouraging people to take part in them.”

Full article:
Olympics Closing Ceremony Shades Danny Boyle Opener With 23.2m – The Guardian – August 20th, 2012
By John Plunkett
Link to Financial Times article

To the Victors, the Spoils: Olympians Become the New Fashion Ambassadors – The Guardian

Posted on August 20, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Brands such as Louis Vuitton, Puma and Fred Perry hope to cash in on the success of 2012 medallists

Their Olympic glory may now be over, but the stars of London 2012 are enjoying a new spotlight – as fashion’s latest darlings. Images of Michael Phelps in the latest advertising campaign for Louis Vuitton’s Core Values range were released on Thursday (16 August) and show Phelps sporting a three-piece suit and sharing a cup of tea with the previous greatest Olympian of all time, Ukranian gymnast Larisa Latynina. It’s a long way from swimming caps, goggles and Speedos.

Fashion and sport alliances look likely to continue in this vein in the aftermath of London 2012. Retiree Gold medallist cyclist Victoria Pendleton recently confessed a dream to model for Burberry. “I’ve been invited a couple of times [to shows] by Burberry,” she told Vogue.com. “I haven’t been able to go because of my training schedule and I literally cried when I found out that it wasn’t possible.”

Such passion for fashion ran throughout the Olympic village. Heptathlete Jessica Ennis talked of a post-gold shopping trip to Selfridges, and is a fan of designers including Alexander McQueen and Victoria Beckham, while swimming ace Ryan Lochte will have a cameo in the new series of fashion plate TV show, 90210 and is friends with catwalk model Karlie Kloss. Over in gymnastics, Team GB’s Louis Smith and American Gabby Douglas have both expressed an interest in working in fashion, with Douglas standing out for her fashion-friendly outfit – high wedges, hot pink miniskirt and digital print vest – when the US female gymnastics team appeared on Letterman. Smith, with his striking facial hair and quiff, currently stars in the Adidas Take the Stage campaign, and Douglas has signed an endorsement deal with Proctor & Gamble, the parent company that own Covergirl cosmetics and Olay.

Full article:
To the Victors, the Spoils: Olympians Become the New Fashion Ambassadors – The Guardian – August 20th, 2012
By Lauren Cochrane
Link to Guardian article

Olympic Star Gabrielle Douglas Can Smile, All the Way to the Bank – Los Angeles Times

Posted on August 8, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Gabrielle Douglas can’t keep her smile away, not when she’s doing a complicated sequence of leaps and somersaults on the balance beam, not when she giggles and says she’d like to get an Acura NSX Roadster — “Just like the one in ‘The Avengers’” — and especially not when she’s collecting something else that shines.

Those two new Olympic gold medals.

Douglas, a 16-year-old from Virginia Beach, Va., who did not come from a life of privilege but from a background in which her single mother has struggled to pay the mortgage on a condominium, will leave London not only with her medals but with the opportunity to become a millionaire. Thanks to those golds. And that smile.

Though Douglas failed to win a medal in her final event Tuesday, finishing seventh on the balance beam, she is still the first American to win team and all-around gold in the same Olympics.

Full article:
Olympic Star Gabrielle Douglas Can Smile, All the Way to the Bank – Los Angeles Times – August 7, 2012
By Diane Pucin
Link to Los Angeles Times article

Heat Was on Lolo Jones, and She Got Burned – Los Angeles Times

Posted on August 8, 2012 by pmkbncscience

In the end, the most hyped Olympian was also the most alone. Lolo Jones finished the 100-meter hurdles in a desperate lunge, stood by the finish line staring up at an Olympic Stadium scoreboard that registered a fourth-place finish and then slowly walked away.

She didn’t stick around to congratulate the two medal-winning Americans, both of whom had questioned her enormous pre-race publicity. She didn’t hang out to schmooze with fans who have increasingly questioned her sincerity. The cloudy and cool London skies broke into a steady drizzle as she walked into a tunnel and fought back tears. “I guess all the people who were talking about me, they can have their night and laugh about me,” she said.

It’s a nasty business, this Olympic star-making machine. These athletes have one chance every four years to rake in the real gold, the endorsement and appearance money that helps compensate them for years of training. Most agree they would be fools to turn down that chance to capitalize on their success and enhance the quality of their often budget-strained lives.

Full article:
Olympic Hospitality Houses Open Doors for Patriots and Promoters – The Guardian – August 7, 2012
By Lizzy Davies and Esther Addley
Link to Los Angeles Times article

For Lolo Jones, Everything Is Image – The New York Times

Posted on August 8, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Judging from this year’s performances, Lolo Jones seems to have only a slim chance of winning an Olympic medal in the 100-meter hurdles and almost no possibility of winning gold.

Still, Jones has received far greater publicity than any other American track and field athlete competing in the London Games. This was based not on achievement but on her exotic beauty and on a sad and cynical marketing campaign. Essentially, Jones has decided she will be whatever anyone wants her to be — vixen, virgin, victim — to draw attention to herself and the many products she endorses.

Women have struggled for decades to be appreciated as athletes. For the first time at these Games, every competing nation has sent a female participant. But Jones is not assured enough with her hurdling or her compelling story of perseverance. So she has played into the persistent, demeaning notion that women are worthy as athletes only if they have sex appeal. And, too often, the news media have played right along with her.

Full article:
For Lolo Jones, Everything Is Image – The New York Times – August 4, 2012
By JERÉ LONGMAN
Link to The New York Times article

Visa Reports Olympic Consumer Spending Boost – The Guardian

Posted on August 8, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Reports that consumer spending in Britain has crashed as a result of the Olympics look to have been largely unfounded, according to Visa figures that show spending marginally up during the first week of the Games. The credit card supplier said domestic spending on British Visa cards reached £7.4bn last week, up 3.4% on the previous seven days, but only a modest increase of £200m on the same week in 2011.

Spending on cards by international visitors in the UK in the same period rose to £456.9m, an 8% increase on the same week in 2011. Despite reports from retailers and restaurants in London that business has been massively down on previous summers, Visa said spending on its cards by tourists in restaurants across the country was up 19.6% last week to £12.7m.

It seems Usain Bolt hasn’t been alone in hitting the capital’s nightclubs, with Visa saying such spending among foreign cardholders was up 24% to £2.1m last week. Despite the late nights, visitors are still finding time for sightseeing: card spending on attractions and exhibitions was up 12%, it said

Full article:
Visa Reports Olympic Consumer Spending Boost – The Guardian
By Miles Brignall
Link to The Guardian article

London 2012 Sees Britain Bask in its Most Golden Glow Since 1908 – The Guardian

Posted on August 8, 2012 by pmkbncscience

A triumph of funding, management and performance is largely responsible for our stunning and extraordinary Olympic success.

Do not adjust your medal table: this really is happening. Beleaguered by security blather, troubled at times by its own unfathomable ticket regime, the London 2012 Olympic Games has now delivered gloriously and unanswerably where it really matters.

Gold medals on Tuesday afternoon in triathlon, dressage and – you again? – cycling, took Britain’s medal table tally decisively past the 19 golds achieved in Beijing four years ago. It is the best British gold medal tally at any Olympics since London’s White City Games in 1908, when deer shooting and the tug of war were among the medals on offer. To give a more telling perspective on a vertiginous achievement, as recently as the 1996 Atlanta Games, Britain won just a single gold – in rowing.

After a weekend of giddily received track and field success, the start of the Games’ final week had already brought a reprise of that rather disorientating golden glow. Monday’s equine and cycle-based exploits had left the gold tally just one short of Beijing’s intoxicatingly grand haul overnight. Such are Team GB’s current riches that the card for Tuesday’s Olympic competition almost felt like a race within a race, a sprint for the wire to claim that historic 20th gold medal.

Full article:
London 2012 Sees Britain Bask in its Most Golden Glow Since 1908 – The Guardian – August 8, 2012
By Barney Ronay
Link to The Guardian article

Sir Chris Hoy Draws More Than 10m Viewers for Sixth Olympic Gold – The Guardian

Posted on August 8, 2012 by pmkbncscience

More than 10 million viewers tuned in to BBC channels to watch Sir Chris Hoy collect a record-breaking sixth gold medal during the final night of London 2012 Olympic competition on the cycling track on Tuesday.

Laura Trott’s second cycling gold of the 2012 London Game attracted 8.2 million, while Victoria Pendleton’s last ever Olympic ride drew 9.4 million.

However, the BBC’s biggest five-minute peak audience on Tuesday came later in the evening, with 12.1 million watching Australian Sally Pearson take gold in the women’s 110m hurdles.

The biggest five-minute peak audience for the cycling was the 9.8 million who watched Hoy’s emotional ceremony from 6.30pm after the 36-year-old won the keirin, which put him ahead of Sir Steve Redgrave as the British Olympian with the most gold medals.

Full article:
Sir Chris Hoy Draws More Than 10m Viewers for Sixth Olympic Gold – The Guardian – August 8, 2012
By Mark Sweney
Link to The Guardian article

Sunday Times is Biggest Games Winner After Team GB’s Golden Saturday – The Guardian

Posted on August 8, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Olympic bonanza has also lifted sales of Times, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, with other national titles enjoying small gains – though Sun and Daily Star have dipped

The Sunday Times enjoyed the biggest circulation boost from Team GB’s golden Saturday, with readers eager to read about the exploits of gold medal winners including Jessica Ennis and Mo Farah helping to add about 70,000 copies compared with a normal weekend.

Overall, the Sunday Times, its News International stablemate, the Times, and Associated Newspapers titles the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday have added the most sales so far during the London 2012 Olympics, according to unofficial industry estimates. Most other national titles have enjoyed small gains. However, the Sun, Daily Star and their Sunday editions have seen their circulation dip during the Olympics.

Full article:
Sunday Times is Biggest Games Winner After Team GB’s Golden Saturday – The Guardian – August 8, 2012
By Mark Sweney
Link to The Guardian article

Olympic Hospitality Houses Open Doors for Patriots and Promoters – The Guardian

Posted on August 8, 2012 by pmkbncscience

High above London at Alexandra Palace, the floodlights of the Olympic Stadium are just a blur on the horizon, and sporting discipline could not be further from anyone’s mind. As the B-52s blast from the stereo the bar is heaving and the air is thick with the smell of beer and savoury Dutch snacks.

For Gertjan van Holland, a research consultant wearing an orange suit that he ordered online and a cowboy hat with orange tinsel, it is the perfect way to celebrate visiting London. “The Holland Heineken House is very famous in Holland so if you’re at the Olympics you have to experience it,” he says, as the Dutch swimming champion Ranomi Kromowidjojo takes part in a live television broadcast to whoops and cheers. “It’s the big party.”

Full article:
Olympic Hospitality Houses Open Doors for Patriots and Promoters – The Guardian – August 7, 2012
By Lizzy Davies and Esther Addley
Link to The Guardian article

Chris Hoy becomes Britain’s Greatest Olympian with Sixth Gold – The Guardian

Posted on August 8, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Sir Chris Hoy may continue to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 but his sixth career gold medal in the keirin motorpaced sprint in the Pringle marked the end of an Olympic career which has underpinned the success of British cyclists over four Games, from Sydney to London, in which time he has grown into a senior figure within the squad, an iconic role model and target for youngsters such as Jason Kenny, Philip Hindes and many others.

Hoy’s victory in the keirin means he exits Olympic sport as Britain’s most successful medallist, with six golds to his name, surpassing Sir Steve Redgrave and drawing level with Bradley Wiggins on a career total of seven, although the cycling Modfather has “only” four golds to his name. This leaves GB’s track cycling team with seven gold medals, one silver and one bronze from the 10 track events, a picture of all-round domination that matches the triumph in Beijing.

Full article:
Chris Hoy becomes Britain’s Greatest Olympian with Sixth Gold – The Guardian – August 7, 2012
By William Fotheringham
Link to The Guardian article

With Live Streaming and New Technology, BBC Tries to Be Everywhere at the Olympics – New York Times

Posted on August 7, 2012 by pmkbncscience

While some American television viewers are grumbling about the retro feel to NBC’s London Olympics coverage, with tape-delayed broadcasts of the opening ceremony and other events, audiences in Britain are getting a more contemporary — even futuristic — TV Games.

There, BBC is providing marathon coverage — 2,500 hours of programming during the more than two weeks of the Games. At the touch of a button on their remote controls, viewers can choose among as many as 24 live feeds of various events, whether basketball or fencing.

“We wanted to give people every venue, from first thing in the morning to last thing at night,” said Roger Mosey, director of BBC’s Olympics coverage.

Full article:
With Live Streaming and New Technology, BBC Tries to Be Everywhere at the Olympics – New York Times – August 5, 2012
By ERIC PFANNER
Link to New York Times article

NBC’s Coverage in London Is Becoming a Rating Success With a Shot at a Profit – New York Times

Posted on August 7, 2012 by pmkbncscience

Critics of NBC’s coverage of the London Olympics have voiced sometimes brutal commentary on Twitter using the hashtag #NBCFail, but with one week left in its comprehensive, multiple-platform coverage, NBC’s own take is that its programming is a success. Ratings are up over what had been an impressive performance in 2008 in Beijing, and a predicted loss of $200 million or more has been turned around to a cautious prediction of a possible small profit.

Mark Lazarus, the chairman of NBC Sports Group, said in a conference call last week, “We think there’s a small chance that we could make a little bit of money.”

Full article:
NBC’s Coverage in London Is Becoming a Rating Success With a Shot at a Profit – New York Times – August 5, 2012
By BILL CARTER
Link to New York Times article

British Patriotism Blossoms Amid the Games – Los Angeles Times

Posted on August 7, 2012 by pmkbncscience

“During the opening Olympic ceremony I felt a strange stirring inside,” wrote an alarmed Simon Kuper, a columnist for the Financial Times. “At first I thought it was the dodgy chicken sandwich bought in the stadium, but I eventually identified the feeling: British patriotism. This was new to me.”

After a slow start for the British team, a few gold medals in such patrician events as cycling and rowing, have stoked the fire.

But even sports in which British competitors basically show up to be pummeled offer opportunities for outpourings of a particular strain of Britishness. How else to explain the enthusiastic support of Chris Musgrave for the British handball team, which doesn’t just get beaten by its opponents but buried?

“It’s the underdog really,” said Musgrave, 23. “We British love the underdog.”

Full article:
British Patriotism Blossoms Amid the Games – Los Angeles Times – August 4, 2012
By Henry Chu
Link to Los Angeles Times article

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