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London won the race to host the 2012 Olympic Games because the bid team stayed focussed right up to the winning line. That was the view of Mike Lee, director of communications for the 2012 bid team. Mike, who was awarded the OBE and now runs his own agency – VERO – analysed the two-year campaign for a packed CiB audience in Bournemouth.Using three of the promotional videos made during the campaign, Mike relived the build-up and the emotional climax when the announcement was made in Singapore on July 6 last year. “We won by just four votes and we couldn’t have done it without the considerable presence of Seb Coe and Prime Minister Tony Blair,” said Mike. “The French had been clear favourites all the way through but they made some mistakes in their campaign and, as we got stronger building towards the big day, they started fading.” Mike made no apology for the bid team’s tactics in targeting the 115 International Olympic Committee members from 85 countries who had a vote. “We were very focussed and we knew exactly who we had to influence,” he said. “In a crucial six-month period during the campaign we were generating twice as much copy in the international media as all the other competing cities put together. The others started watching us and at that point they made mistakes.” With a budget of just £6 million over the two years, the London bid team never numbered more than 90. The core communications group was about 16 or 17 people with some agency help. “Our campaign had several major targets,” he said. “They included:
Before joining the Olympic bid team Mike was the first ever Director of Communications and Public Affairs for EUFA, European football’s governing body. He had also worked in other sectors including broadcasting, education, sport and leisure, design and local government. |
