The Olympics in London 2012

The Olympic Summer Games are officially called, Games of the XXX Olympiad. They are held everyfour years. Their place of origin is found in Antic Greece. The first Olympiad of modern times startedin Athens in 1896. The next Olympic Games, the XXX, are being hosted in London in 2012. 26different sport types are being performed, such as e.g. fencing, boxing, soccer, athletic track, militaryhorseback, rowing, swimming, triathlon, to mention a few only. London is the first city to be the hostof the Olympic Summer Games for the third time. London was already host of the Olympic Games in1908 and 1948.The decision for London as host was performed during a meeting of the International Committee inSingapore in 2005. London, the capital of England, the UK, Great Britain, and Northern Ireland withabout 7.6 million inhabitants is the city with the most inhabitants in the EU, and one of the mostimportant cultural, financial, and commercial centers of the world. The Olympic Games will be heldfrom July 27 to August 12 in 2012.On the one hand, the Olympic Games are important in order to excite young people for sports, todiscuss social, economic, and ecological themes, as well as to discuss the development of peace; onthe other hand, it serves for the sustainability of tourism and the labor market, and for Britishcompanies who tender for contracts resulting from the Games.The 2012 Olympiad stands under the motto “Green and Secure”. Green does not mean theprovidence of green space throughout the region; it means the numerous direct and indirect impactsonto the green environment during the preparation, execution, and follow-up phases of utilization.Everywhere it is possible; the environment should be protected and be advanced in a committingmanner. Nature-damaging Olympic Games cannot be endorsed from an ethical and moral viewpointin today’s times. It is the objective to leave the landscape picture mostly unchanged during thebuilding of competition facilities, which deliver a large impact to nature and landscape. The issue of safety also has a high priority. This begins with the selection of building companies, contractualpartners, building materials, the recycling of waste materials, drink water supply, and personprotection. The Organizational Committee of the Olympic Games and the staff members in Londonmust collaborate closely with public authorities, government, police, and security companies in orderto ensure safe Games. The Olympic Games support the worldwide interest in sports, and also offersthe prerequisite for the transfer of Olympic values.These Summer Games are to be held in already existing, in newly to be built, and in temporaryfacilities, such as e.g. Hyde Park, Wimbledon, and the Horse Guards Parade. Basically, the objectiveis to avoid high follow-up costs for the facilities.The administrative areas of Greater London, the central city domains of the City of London, the Cityof Westminster, as well as 31 municipalities compose the Olympic Zone, the River Zone, and theCompetition Zone, where most of the competition facilities are to be found. A few venues are alsofound outside of the City.

East London with its Olympic Park located in the Lower Lea Valley with the host town of Stratford willbe a central venue. The Park, the largest and new urban park for Europe, extends over a space of 1,236 acres, whereby 729,550 yd

are allocated for building space. After the Games, it will serve asspare-time and recreation facility for inhabitants and visitors. 36,500 condominiums and 50,000 jobsare to be created via coordinated investment programs of diverse agencies.The Olympic Games are focused on Stratford and the Lower Lea Valley. 7000 jobs and a supplementincome of 525 million £ will be created in East London.The 2012 Olympic Games in London are not only interesting from a sports and media viewpoint, butalso for the economy. The project bandwidth is significant. From the Olympic Park with its numerousbuilding and landscape engineering requirements to the extension of local public transportcapacities, sport facilities, studios for television and radio broadcasting, and park equipment up tocorporate services. The domains of finance, insurance, consulting, health, IT, and film production areimpacted.With the acceptance of the 2012 Olympic Games, commitments, tasks, and organizational structureswere thus embraced. This includes the erection and providence of infrastructure, such as e.g.facilities for hosting and sports, bridges, streets, electric power supply, landscape planning, a TV andradio broadcasting center, care services, data networks, and security services. As well as eventmanagers for the organization and project controlling of the Games, and such for marketing andpartnerships/sponsors are needed.Sponsors from the oil and natural gas industry, the automobile industry, the telecommunicationindustry, and aviation industry, as well as from the clothing and homeware industries are beingsought. The sponsors should become shareholders to one third, amounting up to 2 billion £, of theestimated implementation costs. Further revenue sources will be attained from entrance tickets,merchandising, and television and broadcasting rights. Coca Cola, McDonald, Panasonic, Samsungand Visa, just to name a few, have already voiced interest for their rights.The Olympic Games is a global event. It is estimated that 14,700 athletes from about 200 countrieswill participate. 8 million visitors with 150,000 employees and voluntary helpers will experience theon-site events.4 billion people will take part on the events in front of television sets. TV will be the King of theGames. Sport lends itself well as communication channel in order to attract active and passivesportspeople, and interested visitors to their TV sets. It possesses a world of adventure, fascination,and emotions. For the media, sport relates to low costs, and is very attractive due to the high impactto its audience.In recent years, TV sport reports from Olympic Games have emerged to be of increasingly significantimportance for public and private TV broadcasters. Especially, live reports of sport events haveresulted in being a unique TV program event for TV broadcasters, even though not every sport typereceives the same amount of attention from report hosting. Only the attractive sport types with massattention ensure for high viewer ranking.

BBC London will compile the media plans for TV, radio, and Internet already during the predecessoryear of the Olympic Games, and inform media agencies, as well as brand name article manufacturers/ sponsors, about the time slots for advertisement spots during the broadcast of the Olympic Games.This is especially important so that the brand name article manufacturers can plan their budgets in atimely manner.BBC does not possess a monopoly for the broadcast of the Olympic Games, only the InternationalOlympic Committee (IOC) does.IOC grants license rights for the broadcast of the Games to TV and radio broadcasters.Global player, such as BBC and CNN, possess international advantages for this.Here is the BBC SWOT Analysis:

BBC SWOT Analysis

Strength: Opportunities:Weakness: Threats:

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World’s largest broadcaster/wide coverage- millions reached

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Many channels/ variety

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Best/ highest quality coverage/technologically outing edge

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International Brand (usingEnglish)

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Strong, reliable financialssupport/ fee based