Tag Archives: Chris Townsend

Olympics 2012 at £2,012?

You’ve got to be kidding. It can’t really be true that Olympic tickets will be sold for a staggering £2,012. Can it? Apparently so; and people are waiting for these tickets. It’s like they can’t get them quick enough. There are after all, 500 days left until the big event and sales have already begun. But no need to panic if you don’t have that kind of money; it really does depend which event you want tickets for. Even the frugal Olympic supporters can still get a ticket…the lower end ones begin at £20. And there’s no need to rush out since there are approximately 6.6 million tickets available over the next six weeks.

There are going to be no special favors on how tickets are allocated; all applicants will be treated the same with oversubscribed events being determined by a ballot. Chairman of London 2012 Lord Coe said, “”If you look at the way we have put the price points together I think we’ve done that in a really smart way. I think those prices are affordable.”

Ticket Advertising Campaign Could Fund Japan’s Recovery

It still seems somewhat over-the-top that the London ticket advertising campaign is going to be costing quite a few million pounds sterling. The campaign’s theme is “the greatest tickets on earth.” That maybe, but what about putting some of that money into helping the recent disaster of fellow Olympians, like the Japanese? Well, apparently this too may be happening. American Olympic Committee leaders have “reached out” to those in Japan, offering help following the earthquake. USCO CEO Scott Blackmun wrote to the leader of Japan’s Olympic organizing committee to offer help but has yet to receive a response.

Because of what’s been going on in the country, Tokyo has been forced to cancel the figure skating world championships scheduled for next Monday. America is an extending a helping hand by offering to move the venue there, but apparently the Japanese have not responded. In any event, ISU executives were set to go to Japan for a “relationship-building trip” next month but it just might be that the Japanese now have somewhat other larger matters with which to contend.

Locog Advertising

So maybe after all it shouldn’t be so shunned that Locog has been working so hard – with so many resources – on their campaign. To date, there have been 13 different adverts. Chris Townsend, the commercial director said “the launch of Olympic tickets is an important milestone for us, and a key part of our commercial program.” It seems like the public is getting very excited about this too which is the prime part of the advertising campaign. Seb Coe London 2012 Chairman said, “We want this to be the greatest show on earth,” so it makes sense that they are investing so much money into it.

And why not? With so many world disasters (like Japan) and personal tragedies, isn’t the Olympics just a great, fun, safe and positive way to try to escape it all for a while? It sure will make for feel-good sentiments around the London area already 500 days prior to its commencement and will invariably be good for the British economy which has to somehow impact the global economy and thus in its own indirect way, have an effect on the Japanese recovery.