The Cultural Olympiad: Task 1: Research

The actual concept

This on-going ‘event’ was instigated to be part of the 2012 Olympic Festival and has already been happening across the country in various locations for the past 4 years.  The culmination will take place between 6 June and 29 September and feature up to 800 individual events ranging from dance to art and filmmaking. It is supposed to be the creative more art side of the Olympics so that people who are not so interested in sports have something to relate the Olympics to.

Origins of the idea

The Cultural Olympiad was founded by a French Baron in 1984, and was originated from ancient Greece. It reflects other cultures such as China and First Nations.

Purpose, Aims and Ideas

Spread over four years, it is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of London 2012 and inspire creativity across all forms of culture, especially among young people.

Evaluate Why the Brand is still largely unknown

The Cultural Olympiad has been around for over 25 years, however is still widely unknown, This could be due to lack of advertising or the event being over shadowed by the sporting Olympics.

The website:

The cultural Olympiad hasn’t actually got its own website. It is a link on the main London 2012 Olympics website. It’s hard to find even on that website as it doesn’t actually have one of the main tabs at the top of the page, you really have to look for it under the ‘get involved’ tab.

So the fact that it hasn’t got an actual website is already a downfall as people cant just search for it to get information.

There are 7 different sectors of the festival on the website:

·      Art

·      Film and digital

·      Literature and libraries

·      Museums and galleries

·      Music

·      Outdoors and events

·      Theater, dance and comedy

The marketing:

Most people have not even heard of the cultural Olympiad. This is because it is not being marketed properly. The people organizing the event said that they are doing this more for young people but they are not showcasing it to them. With all the social networking sites that kids are now on most of the time haven’t covered the event what so ever which is their best window of opportunity to get the event out there to the right audience.

SWOT analysis

Strengths:

It’s a good idea, connecting a creative side to the Olympics as well as worldwide sports.

Promotes Britain as a nation.

Weaknesses:

The event has no true brand identity.

The event has been accused of being too pretentious, as it is an event not everyone can be involved with.

It is difficult to define a marketing audience.

It’s not that interesting unless you actually have an interest in the type of event going on.

Opportunities:

It’s a good idea and if promoted more im sure they would get a big following of people who would really get involved not only to attend but actually want to take part.

Threats:

As the Olympics is over shadowing this event, it could be seen as a threat, however, used wisely could be a useful marketing tool when advertising The Cultural Olympiad.