London 2012 unveils social media strategy

The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) is preparing to launch a significant social networking programme based around sponsored mass-participation digital activities and events in the run-up to London 2012.

LOCOG is in talks with all of London 2012's official sponsors and worldwide partners, including BT, Visa and British Airways, to get involved in the social programme as part of the committee's vision to use digital to engage younger audiences with the Games.

Adidas, which has a £100m sponsorship deal with London 2012, will be the first sponsor to launch a project through the social programme, with a soft launch planned for spring. It will be an online sports activation project to encourage young people aged between 12-18 to participate more in sport.

The project will use social media and social networks to encourage experienced sports people to work with others who are less experienced to help them become enthusiastic about sports.

new media age understands the project will incorporate an online destination, which will be accessible from the London 2012 site, and will be active across all the major social networks. It's also hoped that schools will participate in the project.

The London 2012 project builds on Adidas's grass roots digital and street marketing campaign for its AdiZones initiative, which aims to get more young people involved in sport (nma 25 September 2008).

Alex Balfour, head of new media at LOCOG, told new media age, "We're working with some of our sponsors, specifically Adidas, on a series of social mass-participation activities and are building a programme around sports participation.

"The main driver for it will be around social values. It will be focused less on the people who are already active in sport or aspire to be lead sports people and more on those who have some interest but don't see the social rewards in it," he added.

"We have some interesting ideas on giving them a path to recognition through participation, which means we can do some interesting things online. Ideally it will work very closely with many of the official government-funded sports participation programmes."

Balfour said LOCOG aims to have a presence on all major social networks by the end of 2009 and the social network programmes will also be accessible from the London 2012 site.

He said the committee was due to issue a brief to agencies to redesign the London 2012 site following a usability review. This will be extended to the 50-strong digital roster and may also be opened up to other agencies.

"We want to influence and inspire kids to change their lives and choose sport. Clearly social networks are one of the most effective ways of reaching young people," he said. "The key for us over the next three and a half years is engagement so people understand what the project is. Our vision is to use the power of the Games to inspire people. That will be a key focus of the programme."

BT refused to comment on the company's involvement in the London 2012 social networking programme, but Martin Percy, senior interactive filmmaker at BT Group Marketing & Brand, admitted the telecoms company was considering its social media strategy. "We can't not be doing social networking and we're working on what we can do that hasn't been done before," he said.

Adidas, BA, McDonald's and Visa were unavailable for comment as new media age went to press.

Source - NMA