PR prepares for a post-Olympic case studies tidal wave!

Anybody who has worked in PR over the last few years, particularly in B2B, has probably had a conversation with a client which has gone like this:

Client: “Fantastic case study opportunity. Very hush, hush, but we’ve been working on the Olympic site building the [insert construction project ie. velodrome, swimming pool, athletes village]”

PR company: “Well that’s terrific well done, but we won’t be able to use it.”

Client: “Why not?”

PR Company: “Well because the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) are running the whole thing like a police state and nobody is allowed to say anything about what they have supplied or are helping to build on pain of death.”

Client: “Is there any way around it? I mean it’s only [insert specific construction product]”

PR Company: “No.”

Now I must have had this conversation, or variants of, at least half a dozen times. Multiply that by the number of different construction products being used from flooring through to plumbing equipment through to hammers and nails and you get some idea of how many companies, and their PRs, that are currently sitting on case studies to do with 2012.

Of course, come the closing ceremony on Sunday 12th August 2012 all bets are off. The ODA dam, holding back this torrent of words will break!

I confidently predict an avalanche, indeed a veritable tidal wave, of case studies landing in the inboxes of trade press editors on Monday 13 August.

Gawd help them!