Pre-Production Essentials: Planning for Olympic Greatness
CMMA BlogI was lucky enough to be onsite during the Olympic Games supporting a TOP Sponsor with content capture and creation. What an amazing opportunity to be presented with, but it also wasn’t without its challenges. So, let’s dive in!
Paris 2024 set the scene early with the slogan: Games wide open! It made history delivering the first-ever opening ceremony held outside a stadium, down the River Seine, it transformed well known landmarks into open-air sports arenas, and it delivered a more responsible, more inclusive and more equal games than ever before.
There are very specific guidelines and do/don’ts within an Olympic Games, particularly around sponsored content. These guidelines range from how you can refer to the Olympic Games, how you link any content to the specific approved sponsor categories, how the field of play is shown within content and how the Olympic brand is represented and shown.
Here are some of the things I learnt along the way.
Before the Olympic Games begin work with the IOC, your agency partners and your internal brand & marketing teams to create a ‘Look of the Games Guide’. This document should outline
- overall messaging
- brand positioning
- IOC approved imagery and copy
- required licenses with agreed terms
- clear sponsor categories
- examples of creative look & feel (remember to include multiple formats, ratios and layout options)
- logo lock up’s
- spacing and positioning requirements
Once aligned this document should be shared with anyone touching content creation across the Olympic Games and be a source of truth. Ensure the full document is approved by the IOC to ensure complete compliance during game times. If you want to be extra prepared I would recommend spending the time pre-games to create brand and IOC approved templates, then you can just drop in the real time content as it comes through, without being concerned around visual, messaging and tone compliance.
When your feet are on the ground, take the time to conduct site visits before the Olympic Games starts and you have your scheduled filming day with OBS. I can’t tell you how much this saved us when the Games were live. By accessing the venues before the Games had started we could work out the best entry and exit points, the right areas for camera set up, introduce ourselves to the Venue Managers and write an accurate and succinct shot list with photographs of locations for your OBS crew. This meant they turned up prepared, knowing exactly what the expectations were and how they could best help you to achieve your goals.
The more prepared you are before the start of the Olympic Games the more success you will have during it. Take the time to have the conversations, plan the content and establish clear parameters for your partnership all before you even touch down in the host city.
