Forty: luv

By Beatrice Vears 

Sport is a pure, true physical endeavor, a benchmark of prowess, the simplicity of performance on the day which defines a winner and a loser.  Wimbledon 2013 shows no greater case in point.

Murray has learnt to control his nerves, Djokivic is a well-seasoned grand slammer and they jointly provided a master class in jaw-dropping tennis. Only three sets but a wonderful, inspirational product.

Sabine Lisicki powered into final, deposing higher ranked players with the ease of the underdog, and then fell apart, under the pressure of expectation. Result? A rather boring, one-sided final.

What does that one snapshot of a weekend say about women’s sport? Has it been in the shadows all these years because of emotion, of feeling, a compromised output based on squeals, tears and breakdowns?

Of course not, but it seems that feelings towards women’s sport can certainly ruin the product - most of it has been straight out of the cave recently ‘Bartoli has second career as tennis champ ‘cos she ain’t a looker’, ‘Murray salvages British tennis’ seemingly erasing the Grand Slam achievements of female champions Wade, Jones and Mortimer.

So here we are, 11 months on from the halo of London 2012 where women’s sport stamped a real step-change in profile, medal haulage and role modelling. One year on, do we have an improved track record? Are we getting better access, experience and branded output? Who has made it on to the podium for pushing forward women’s sport?

Bronze

Katie Walsh setting off as favourite in the Grand National, the world’s most popular and dangerous horse race. Not simply the housewives choice but a real contender built on her success in being placed the previous year.

Silver

Inbee Park, the world’s no 1 women’s golfer, on the cusp of winning all 4 majors in one season, a feat that no male or female or golfer has achieved since 1930. If she can win the British Open in August, she will guarantee her leap into sporting immortality.

Gold

The media, in particular bbc.co.uk’s commitment to increased coverage of all women’s sport. Under every subheading, a healthy, growing women’s section most recently exemplified by their player profiles and coverage of the Women’s Football Euros.

And looking forward, what glimmers of light do we see on the horizon? Surely it’s the Women's Cricket World Cup (WCWC) landing in the UK in 2017. If ever there was a chance to make up for a shocking missed opportunity in India recently, this is it. The home of cricket, the home of the BBC, the home of the previous holders. It bodes well. This WCWC can have a purpose, beyond simply playing the game:

- Remit to develop the global profile of this sport

- Define England’s unique role in the 2017 Women’s World Cup story ‘cricket coming home’

- Chance to Shine’s role in developing the grassroots game

We know from our work with London 2012 that the right brand can create a build-up and an experience worthy of both a global television, and in-ground, audience. A new exchange of content, thinking, ideas and participation to reflect the growing dynamism of sport sponsorship, player accessibility and models of engagement.

Finally, and most importantly, it could be a catalyst of change for the growing popularity and the reinforcement of positive feeling towards women in sport.

Now that’s truly a game changer.

  Beatrice Vears is head of account management in London. 

Everyone Olympic from start to finish

By Suzanne Livingston

It pains to say it but our golden summer has come to a close. 

It’s been an amazing experience. We’ve seen a genuinely gripping drama from start to finish, which has spilled into all aspects of our lives. It’s been a summer drenched in adrenaline, sex appeal, sweat and tears.

For us at Wolff Olins, it’s all been particularly closely felt. Five years ago we created the brand for the Olympics – the brand vision, manifesto and the infamous logo.

After a terrible start and national ridiculing (kicked off on the front page of the Daily Mail), everything that we hoped for the Olympic experience – everything epitomised by our logo – came to fruition.  It’s been quite a surprise.

It was our great desire, as we built the bones of a brand, that the Olympics became part of UK street culture, that everyone would make it their own, that it would be the air of the nation. It was also our hope that it would be a proud display of British eccentricity, of having the courage to do things which seem impossible, don’t make sense, at times baffle. The opening ceremony was testament to that (so too was our logo). 

For something that was so maligned, it is ironic that our work came out the other end in such good shape. The words of the original manifesto written way back then have been repeated many times by sponsors, by Boris, by Cameron, at the opening ceremony. Key figures have constantly reiterated the Olympics as an event which stretches beyond sport, beyond two weeks, for everyone, like never before. A message got through and through the toughest times sustained itself.  It was believed in.

I’d be cautious about how much credit a brand can take but I believe here that it genuinely helped set a tone and atmosphere for the Olympics, giving them their rightful place in our national culture, at just the right time. The brand helped set the Olympics on track and, in what is a dream in our line of work, has acquired more and more meaning and energy over time. Whatever you think of the logo and the strategy behind it, it engaged the national psyche, like a soap opera, right from the start.  It gave the whole project igniting firepower.

It’s been wonderful to see the logo sashay, wink and grin its ways through the whole proceedings, taking on the chin the sniggers and teasing. We have seen it twinkling everywhere – on all our screens, in all our streets (and thanks to our Miles Perkins and his brilliant implementation expertise, it provided the basis and inspiration for more and more creative manifestations).  As was also part of the original post-nationalistic intention, it has carried the flags of every other nation in the world (quite literally, within its form). The brand was intended to include in every single way.

Patrick Cox, creative director on the job, called the logo a ‘robust little fucker’ and indeed it is. Its sharp corners and rough edges are entirely appropriate to a mission which is about breaking out, and breaking through, like never before.

In the last few weeks, we’ve seen physical breakthrough of unfathomable dimensions, and great numbers of heroes made for the first time. The Paralympics, in particular, brought a swarm of new faces – competitors and commentators - who are now national icons, role models and sex symbols. The word ‘disabled’ feels out of place in a context of supreme, jaw-dropping ability.

There have also been endless creative breakthroughs as the Olympic delivery effort went about doing things, from scratch, with politely British disrespect for the rulebook. Getting the logo legally secured – which has no master version, but has instead infinite permutations – was a small example in itself. The biggest achievement of all was perhaps getting the Olympics and Paralympics treated together as one united experience. That had never been done before and may not be done again.

I’ll remember the Olympics for smashing our idea of ‘normal'– most acutely through one extraordinary Paralympic achievement after another – but also, throughout, by being a strident expression of confidence, wackiness, self-determination and awe-inspiring risk. What was for us a disaster at the beginning became a job of which I am most proud. The whole thing has been wonderfully, extraordinarily high stakes from start to finish. May the mission to do ‘like never before’ go on and on.

Suzanne Livingston is Head of Strategy at Wolff Olins.

Usefulness by Dr. Dre

The world's magnifying glass is on athletes rights now, which makes them particularly attractive to brands. All that attention translates into an incredible amount of eyeballs, from consumers who are rooting for and energized by the competition at the Olympics.

Brands spend a great deal of money to get athletes to rock their brand, in whatever capacity. However, it's a tough thing to pull off--you need to be cautious and pick an athlete that embodies and exemplifies the defining characteristics of your brand.

But here's a different model of athlete endorsement I love: This year, you can't ignore the visibility of Dr. Dre's  "Beats by Dr. Dre" headphones. Knowing that many of the highest profile athletes now appear on screen and at the starting blocks in headphones, Dr. Dre's company created customized headphones for the event and also provided standard models to athletes from all different teams. Such a useful gift has ensured a ton of visibility in the arena, on TV and in social media. Unlike a traditional single celebrity endorsement, Dr. Dre's ‘ambush marketing’ efforts rely on his product's innate usefulness to spread the buzz. It's an undoubtedly bold move that shines a spotlight on the strict restrictions the Olympics places on brands that aren't official sponsors.

While the value of celebrity endorsements can be argued over, it boils down to a quality that's at the core of successful brands and people: purpose. If a brand can express its purpose through a celebrity endorsement in a creative and positive way, the long-term gains are well worth it.

--Karl Heiselman

Photo via NYT

The torch pays its respects

The Olympic torch came past Wolff Olins' London headquarters yesterday morning as we lined the streets waving flags. Great to see people inspired to come outside and watch the spectacle – some were even barbecuing their breakfast. 

Photo via Nathan Williams

This will give you the chills.

London’s Channel 4 recently put out an epic commercial for the upcoming London 2012 Paralympic Games. Under the promo, Meet the Superhumans, and set to Public Enemy’s Harder Than You Think, the 90 second spot features Paralympic athletes competing at what can only be described as a superhuman level of intensity. The real grit of the ad comes when it flashes back to the moments the athletes were injured.

A verbal description wouldn’t do the film justice. Check it out. Be inspired. Watch the Paralympics.

(Marvell Lahens and Lisa Smith)