Olympic VIPs to be shielded from having to see men in overalls!

Fascinating conversation with a client the other day who has a number of premises from where various products are distributed around London. By all accounts, pressure is being exerted by local councils, at the behest of the Olympic Delivery Authority, for certain businesses to close for the duration of the Olympics. Closures could go as far as business premises located in Croydon.

The reason, I am told, is that there are concerns amongst our elected leaders and the International Olympic Committee that the sight and sound of lorries on their delivery rounds will ruin the whole spectacle. What’s more, certain business premises will not just be required to close for the duration of the Olympics. Closures will include the weeks leading up to the opening ceremony and also the Paralympics totalling a cumulative eight weeks!

Much work is currently being done on how to cope with this thorny issue. Extended holidays are one option as is the altering of opening times so that branches will open through the night but close during the day. Apparently, it’s alright to wake up local residents at 3am for a delivery of plastic pipe, but god forbid a member of the IOC has to set their eyes on a man in overalls!

Personally, I’m still staggered that we are paying £20 billion to watch people go for a swim and throw a spear, but I know this is an unpopular argument in many quarters so I will just shut up!

What does concern me is the impact on the UK economy during this extravaganza. Concerns have already been voiced North of the Border that London will suck in all tourist expenditure across the UK during the summer. Americans who would normally go to Scotland for a few days will instead opt to stay in London. No doubt Alex Salmond, the canniest of UK politicians, will be able to use that one to his advantage (“they took our oil and now they’ve come back for our tourists”).

I read also that Andrew Lloyd Webber is warning that the West End theatres will be decimated due to the fact that nobody in their right mind will go near London for a relaxing weekend theatre break this summer.

When we signed up for this, I don’t remember Lord Coe, or anyone else for that matter, warning us of eight week business closures. If we carry on like this, the much touted ‘Olympic Premium’ will be severely diluted by an ‘Olympic Deficit’.

Roll on September 2012!

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!