26th Aug 2008
Beijing spin
It is Irish News day on O’Conall Street. Topic de jour is the Olympics……
What a Games! $43 billion dollars and no disappointments.
China was never going to leave anything to chance and unlike the chaotic international torch run, the 16 days on Chinese soil were choreographed within an inch of their life.
It was more a case study in propaganda than public relations – text-book stuff. As one BBC journalist noted last night you simply could not organise a Games like these in a democracy. The electorate would not allow you to spend so much, nor would they accept such limitations on the personal freedoms.
Within hours of accepting the Olympic flag, London was already involved in a debate about the use of an image of Myra Hindley in a ‘Visit Britain’ video. It has been condemned by the PM and Boris Johnston. The accountability has started and will not abate until the Olympic flame goes out on August 12th, 2012.
Proper order too. There are many in my profession who will cite Beijing as a case study in public relations. I’m not sure this will stand up to scrutiny. It’s easy to manage your image when you control the media, the web, the blogs, the movement of your people, where and if they protest. These, in public relations terms were a closed Olympics. London can be nothing but the opposite.
I was really looking forward to reading Olympian’s blogs – as it happens there were only a few. The Chinese authorities blocked many of the hosting platforms making it impossible for athletes to upload their thoughts.
Then last week Channel 4 brought us the news of two septuagenarians sentenced to ‘re-education’ by the state for applying to protest about housing in the official protest zone. It made great TV but I wonder if these elderly ladies received another visit from the police after their interview was broadcast around the world.
For the Beijing ‘yin’ there will be the London ‘yang’. The 2012 games will be a true public relations challenge. In one of the most open cities in the world with one of the most vocal democracies - a tradition of protest and political debate and more nationalities then any other conurbation in Europe, the skills of those in my profession will be tested.
There will be little point in trying the Chinese top down approach. You cannot control a free press and a free people. Building the reputation for these games will have to be bottom up. In London, individuals looking for news, information and cues will rely less on institutions, or even the press and more on each other.
As individuals take control, they’re demanding more, which is why, in communications terms “pull” now overrules “push.” Amid information overload, pushing messages is not enough. London need to pull people toward the ideas it wants to convey in a true exchange. This requires engagement.
London will need to recruit advocates, forging emotional bonds and higher levels of involvement from supporters — active, vocal, proud, informed, experiential.
That is easier said then done in a democracy.
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