Whatever you think of it, this symbol is one we’ll be seeing a great deal of in the coming weeks as London starts to gear up as host city of the 2012 Olympic Games in four years’ time.
When the 2012 logo was announced in June 2007, it attracted widespread criticism and dislike. I recall it being a topic of discussion from the PR and branding points of view in two episodes of the FIR podcast.
So today the Olympic mantle passed from Beijing to London, with the formal handover taking place during a spectacular closing ceremony. And it really was spectacular, the pinnacle of China’s investment in these 2008 games, reportedly some $40 billion overall. Serious money.
The ceremony included an excellent 10-minute segment about London. Metaphors abounded along with an iconic red London bus and commuters with umbrellas.
(Note that the links above to video on the BBC website can only be seen if you’re in the UK. Nothing I can do about that, sorry.)
The highlight undoubtedly was Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page and Leona Lewis with an updated version of the Zep’s classic track, Whole Lotta Love.
It was visually brilliant although the audio level and quality on TV were extremely disappointing, as if someone hasn’t plugged a cable in somewhere. What I heard was the audio from the stadium, ie, the sound wasn’t directly plugged in, so to speak, to the live television broadcast. What a pity.
I wondered on Twitter how long it would be before a video of Page and Lewis appeared on YouTube. Within minutes, I had the answer from Mitch Joel – from a TV viewer in Germany, it’s already there! (Aug 25: not unsurprisingly, perhaps, the video has now been taken down by YouTube citing copyright violation.)
So, Beijing concludes and the UK celebrates and prepares for the next Olympic games.
One good thing about the London 2012 logo is that you can do things with it. By that, I mean things like changing the colours perhaps to reflect something you prefer.
I think the one above is a ghastly colour scheme: the version you see at left – the logo that was projected in the stadium in Beijing during the formal handover – is far better.
But that’s just my view.
One thing I would expect the London 2012 organizers to do would be to make it easy to get hold of a copy of the logo. But do they? No.
I couldn’t find a logo file for download from the image library or anywhere else on the 2012 website. What’s at the top of this page is a screen capture from the 2012 home page using Snagit.
I hope they get their marketing hats on pretty quickly to keep up with momentum as I would imagine that lots of people will be talking and writing about the 2012 Olympics in the coming days and weeks, and would like to include a logo.
In any event, be prepared for seeing the London 2012 logo, in whatever form, sooner or later.
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8 responses to “Gearing up for London 2012”
The use of the London 2012 logo and the Olympics rings symbol are protected by an two Act Of Parliaments:
1. Olympic Symbol etc. (Protection) Act 1995
2. London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act (2006)
Full details as to the reasons why are at http://business.london-2012.co.uk/Use-of-Olympic-marks/
Here’s an extract:
Yes, I read that text on the 2012 site, Marc, thanks.
So what does it mean for a blogger like me? Prohibited from displaying the 2012 logo, as I have done? Hard to believe the 2012 organizers would intend no one to use the logo in the illustrative way I have, other than sponsors or others who’ve entered into some kind of contractual agreement.
That would make little sense as surely it would be a good idea to have anyone talking about the 2012 games to be able to make use of those games’ symbol and thus increase its visibility.
Here’s a bit more of the text from the page you quoted, relating to the ‘(see below)’ reference:
Hardly the case here. I’d even say that my displaying the logo in this post constitutes fair dealing.
But I may be wrong, in which case I’ll wait for the take-down notice.
Ridiculous.
[…] closing ceremony for Beijing 2008 we can all start focusing on the Olympics for London 2012. But a post by Neville Hobson has made me wonder if LOCOG (London Organising Committee) will really be able to […]
Jonathon Ross spoiled the 2012 logo for me by pointing out it looks like Lisa Simpson on her knees. Every time I see it, I am more convinced he’s right.
Glad you mentioned the Jimmy Page audio problem – I thought it was my TV audio on the blink, but it was soon apparent that there was some kind of feed/mixing deck problem, since the vocals were fine. If I were Page I’d be FURIOUS; I’d say the short segment was “very good”, but in a sense anything more than that, like “unbelievably spectactular”, would have been almost impossible to achieve given what Beijing had produced… and probably inappropriate in the circumstances. “Very good” in those circumstances is quite an achievement!
Hey Neville, you should install our little ClustrMaps Geographical hit counter map widget in your blog gutter… email us and we’ll give you a free upgrade to ClustrMaps+ (better maps, no ads).
Couple of links that you might be interested in:
First up, from the Handover Party in the Mall
http://ameliatorode.typepad.com/life_moves_pretty_fast/2008/08/london-2012-handover-party.html
Catch Up Lady is always a good read, she has an interesting take on how London is approaching 2012 from a Social Media perspective
http://catchupblog.typepad.com/catch_up_blog/2008/08/london-2012-already-on-the-social-media-bandwagon.html
And I have to say that I think the union jack infill on the logo looks pretty good. In fact, dare I say it, I think that in years to come it’ll be a logo that we actually really like…
Great pics, Amelia. And a great point in your post re flag-waving and patriotism. Always seems to me that such natural behaviour has been hijacked by the extremists, which is such a pity.
And re the logo, yes, I agree re the Union Jack infill. A variation of the official logo and, I assume, officially supported as that’s the logo you saw on TV during the handover part of the closing ceremony.
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