Friday, February 26, 2010

Vancouver Round Two...the Athletes


The Vancouver Winter Games are for the athletes. The organizers considered the safety, the comfort and the health of the athletes before anything else and the gesture did not go unnoticed. On my last trip up to the Games, I focused on the athletes and the teams. It’s interesting to see how young people deal with the social pressures that the Games put them under and the competitive pressures that come from their sports.

The Winter Games are half the size of the Summer Games in terms of participating athletes. Beijing had over 10,000 and now Vancouver has over 5,000. Most of that difference comes from the number of medal events which is just about double in the Summer. The Winter Games are normally held in small mountain towns right next to the ski lifts that the athletes take to their courses. Vancouver is an exception. It is the largest city to host the Winter Games and it is actually two major venues with the ski mountain, Whistler, being about 70 miles and a two-hour drive north of Vancouver.

One of the things I’m often asked to do is to keep people “on message”. Meaning that there are certain elements of any program that most effectively frame the purpose and mission… making it easy for the players to articulate that message becomes the challenge. I came together with a number of the young men and women who were competing in the Games to find their comfort zone when talking about these Olympics.

Shannon Bahrke (BAR-kee) and her brother Scott, both skiers, were an easy test. If I had more hair, I think I would try the shade of pink that Shannon uses. It gives you a positive little electric shock and makes you smile when you see it. Shannon won the bronze medal in the freestyle mogul competition and if you want to take a lesson in being an Olympic Champion, talk to Shannon. First of all, she’s gracious…no attitude. What was it like for her to win the Bronze? “Winning the Bronze medal here was just as exciting as winning the Silver in Salt Lake 8 years ago. The Olympics is a combination of the competition, the location, the fans and the energy generated by the athletes around you from all over the world. Some people want to brand this event as business. For me, it’s fun!” That’s being “on message”.

Shannon’s brother, Scott, is an aerialist on the national team and didn’t know he was going to compete in Vancouver until two days before the Games Opening Ceremonies. His teammate and close friend Dylan Ferguson was not be able make the Games because of complications from an appendectomy. Scott was the picture of confidence and grace. “I’m really disappointed for Dylan. He worked very hard to make the team. But now I have to focus on the competition and do my best performance for Team USA and the Games.” That’s a 24-year-old who is thinking about what he’s saying before he says it.

My time with Shannon and Scotty was extended when the tram got stuck by a computer glitch coming down from the top of Grouse Mountain. What impressed me most was that the two did not stand around by themselves but circulated around the coach engaging people and taking photos with Shannon’s Bronze Medal. These are often hard lessons to learn but sometimes you just have it.

Gold-Medal-winning snowboarder Shaun White, the Carrot Top look-alike, has the system down cold. He’s got the right mix of bravado, composure and light-heartedness. He’s a rock star with a healthy lifestyle. He embodies the youth of today in the best possible way. His hero is his older brother and he’s very courteous to his fans. In my brief encounter with him, he focused directly on our conversation. No gazing around the room for someone more important to talk to. These Games attract people with heart and that’s refreshing in sport today.

I walked around the Athlete’s Village, which will be a downtown condominium community after the Games, and was introduced to a number of athletes. The US men’s and women’s hockey team members clearly took the “I” out of team. They were all talking about each other and not themselves. Hard to do sometimes. I even ran into Bodie Miller, former bad boy skier, who said, “The Olympics has taught me a lot about myself. Whether anyone believes it or not, I think I’m a better person because of the Games. I made mistakes before but now I don’t want to and I’m trying harder.” That’s good enough for me.

The Georgian Team was another objective of mine. The death of their teammate Nodar Kumaritashvili was a tragedy, especially on Opening Day of the Games. There was not an athlete that I spoke to who did not say Nodar’s accident has haunted them throughout the Games. I did find two members of the team who spoke some English. They told me that it was not necessary to place blame but to revere their friend who lost his life to sport. That’s an amazing perspective. This was a sad, sad legacy for these Games.

It is quite clear to me that the Vancouver Games are all about the athletes. It is so refreshing to be among the young competitors who are not faced with making decisions about hay bales and bus schedules. They are not thinking about how much it will cost to open this venue or that. They don’t even have to sell tickets and worry about the loss of millions of dollars as an investment for a city’s future. These talented young people, in the prime of their lives, are concerned about their turn to compete. They are thinking about their teammates and the life-long memories they will savor from these 17 days. Money and fame can come later if that is their ultimate objective. Right now it’s all about the years they’ve trained and the part of their lives they have sacrificed to be in the ultimate world competition. Today, it’s about the athletes. Isn’t life grand!

Friday, February 19, 2010

Vancouver Round One


The Games are on and there’s one week down. What a rollercoaster ride it has been so far. No doubt you have read about all the controversy and celebration. The US is leading the medal count right now and there have been some surprises. But my ruminations in this post are more about the visitor experience that is not in the news. The rest you can get on NBC (although it’s broadcast 3 hours late on the west coast) or CBCTV if you live in Canada or elsewhere around the world.

The first obstacle of attending the 2010 Olympic Games is that you have to get to Canada. Crossing the border at the “Peace Arch” or the “Truck Crossing” is your first decision. The lighted “Crossing Update” sign read “5 minutes” at either point. We locals like to think the “Truck Crossing” is our little secret but in reality I’m sure it’s used as much as the “Peace Arch” is.

I decided to chance the “Peace Arch” and as I approached there was absolutely no traffic. This was mid-morning and I have never seen it so devoid of cars. As I came over the hill, I saw 12 brand spanking new crossing booths, all open, all manned and not a single car but mine to be seen. It was so easy it made me uncomfortable. I felt like I was cheating…but so be it.

The drive into downtown Vancouver, about 30 miles, was equally pleasant. I even took my favorite route, Cambie Street, and hardly missed a light. This was all really surprising. Vancouver is the largest city to ever host a Winter Olympic Games and, at the very least, you would think that traffic would be a problem.

When I arrived in town, I quickly parked in a covered lot near False Bay for $12 a day. Then, after a great lunch of cooked-to-order chowder and fried oysters at Rodney’s Oyster House, my favorite hole-in-the-wall, I began to explore.

The new subway system had just opened and I had to give it a try. Easy access. Two routes, not too confusing. It takes you within a five minute walk of any downtown neighborhood or the waterfront for $2.50 and the ticket is good for 90 minutes. Truth be told, there are signs that say you must have a ticket and may be asked to show it but no one ever did.

The powder blue jackets of the Games volunteers stood out everywhere. There are reportedly more than 25,000 and I had trouble stumping them with questions about the activities and directions in the downtown corridor. And they were eager to help.

The Olympic Flame and Cauldron was my first real objective. It had only been burning for a couple of days since The Great One touched the flaming torch to it. When I reached the waterfront and asked which way, the hand pointed down the street and the young volunteer said, “You’ll see the crowd!” And what a crowd it was. Probably 500 people were jammed up against a 10-foot-high, chain-link fence about 30 yards from the Flame. It looked like the Berlin Wall. People were climbing the fence and building human pyramids to get a better look or to take pictures. The rest kept maneuvering forward until they could stick their cameras through the links to get an unobstructed photo. The plaza around the Flame was beautiful, with the water and the mountains behind North Vancouver, but only a handful of VIP’s were walking around it. This was the first critical point of connection with the public and it was a huge mess.

Then I decided to try the Official Olympic Merchandise Shop. To get there, I had to go down Robson Street, a major retail thoroughfare. It is blocked off to cars for the Games and the crowds full of Canada-capped, red-jacketed, Maple-Leaf-mufflered revelers were stifling. But everyone seemed to be happy and having a good time.

The shop is located in a large section of the main floor of the Hudson’s Bay Company. The checkout line was more than 6 blocks long and they were letting new shoppers through a stancioned- entrance ONE AT A TIME. It’s good to be popular but not that popular. I asked some visitors on the street (mostly Canadians from other provinces) where they bought their souvenirs and they directed me to the nearby Sears store that has a good selection of Official Merchandise and no lines whatsoever. The hooded sweatshirts are still $80 though.

The International Media Centre was my ultimate goal to meet with the VANOC (Vancouver Organizing Committee) folks I would be working with during the Games. It’s in a perfect spot near the Pan Pacific Hotel on the waterfront and a stone’s throw from the chain-linked cauldron. The offices are small but comfortable and there are battalions of paid and volunteer workers whose job it is to make these Games comfortable, entertaining and successful for the athletes, the spectators, visitors and dignitaries alike.

The Games were never out of sight. Every restaurant, bar and retail shop had big screen TVs with CBC's live coverage from Whistler and Vancouver/Richmond in full view. Even several high-rise buildings had jumbotron sized screens mounted on the exterior walls for street viewing. The city is immersed in the Winter Olympics.

Strategy is my game and I’m there to help communicate and promote in the most effective ways possible. VANOC and the sponsor group are my clients. They are already facing many unanticipated problems but I’ll talk about that in my next post.

Hoteliers and restaurateurs who I spoke with had seen great opening weekend business but by early this week traffic was dropping off quickly. Hotel rooms were readily available at significantly reduced rates and there were no long waits at most restaurants. Tickets to the competitions were being sold on the street for a fraction of face value. Ticket scalping is legal in Canada and the VANOC officials say they simply don’t have time to discourage it. Almost any venue imaginable was available for $50 or less per ticket.

For me, this first trip was to get the lay of the land. From the Opening Ceremonies to Canada’s first Gold Medal on Canadian soil, the host city was gracious, attentive and welcoming in every way. They were dealing with their problems head-on and the objective was always what was best for the athletes and the visitors.

When I drove back to Seattle and came to the Peace Arch crossing, the sign still read “5 Minutes”. The difference was that the US-maintained side of the crossing was unfinished. Construction equipment and piles of dirt and debris were scattered everywhere. It was like a slalom course to reach the crossing booth but there was one open with no wait. “What did you do while you were in Canada?” the guard asked. “Saw a lot of Canadians,” I said. He laughed and waved me on.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Super Sunday


The television really was pretty ugly…pink and white…made out of tin. The screen was 15 inches and the color wasn’t black and white. It was sort of gray on lighter gray. The snow was caused by the reception from the “rabbit ears” antenna…not the weather, which was perfect in Los Angeles on January 15, 1967. It was the first Super Bowl and that little TV was what my college roommates and I had to watch the spectacle so we made the best of it.

No one had yet dubbed the day Super Sunday. The franchise owners and league officials had finally figured out that pro football could make them money…on television. This could be better than professional wrestling which filled the airwaves most weekends in those days, along with baseball. There were still two competing leagues then, the original National League and the new American League. It wasn’t until 1970 that the National Football League was formed, with two conferences, the National and the American.

Besides the size of the television, which now is embarrassing if it isn't 42inches or larger, it was different then. The Green Bay Packers with their immortal coach Vince Lombardi and Quarterback Bart Starr, the Peyton Manning of his day, defeated the upstart Kansas City Chiefs 35 to 10 and the tradition was established. The winners got $15,000 each and the losers $7,500, with no cheerleaders and a half-time show that looked pretty much like the Rose Bowl. It did give us time to play a little catch in the sun.

Lots of big global viewing numbers are thrown around by the NFL and the television networks but, in reality, this is a very American event. Oh, it is shown around the world, but most other countries know as much about American Football as we know about Cricket and avoid it in droves. I’ve watched the game with other Americans in several interesting places like Sydney, Paris, London, Auckland and Milan. The snacks were different but good and there was definitely no competition for a spot in front of the TV in the local pubs.

I’ve seen a few live Super Bowls with my clients but I have to say going to Detroit to see the Seahawks play the Pittsburgh Steelers is the one that will remain in my memory bank. The vast majority of the games have been played in sunny climes like LA and Miami. Only three times, so far, has the game been played in a northern city, where winter is really winter, as it should be. It was snowy and cold in Detroit and because it is so close to Pittsburgh that their fans could drive it easily, we Seahawks were dramatically outnumbered on the streets and in the stadium.

Other than Detroit’s remote parking plan, which cost us five hours in sub-freezing weather standing outside and on the bus, and their new downtown people movers that were completely unreliable and needed the “station stuffers” who get every person possible on the Tokyo subways, the city was hospitable. The snow turned into a sheet of ice on almost all roads on Sunday, so just getting to the stadium was a half-day event itself.

In person, the game has become a colossal extravaganza that includes a little football being played for a couple of hours. The opening tribute to Motown with Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight, Smokey Robinson, Wilson Pickett and a host of other stars got us warmed up quite well. At half-time, the Rolling Stones gave it their best with Mick Jagger’s lips being 100-feet wide on the jumbotron.

Our seats were great…on the 35 yard line…we found them in the Seahawks players pool, thanks to my ex-Seahawk, television anchor buddy. I only ventured away from our spot and the boisterous Steeler fans behind us, who loved the verbal sparring throughout the entire game, one time. It was a trip to the souvenir stand for “trash and trinkets”. I had a serendipitous long conversation with Jamie Moyer in the line. He was after sweatshirts for the whole family, which cost him more than the average monthly house payment. I came away with a cap and a couple of shot glasses.

The Seahawks lost 21 to 10 but they played a good game and finished with heads held high. Today, team spirit and hometown allegiance makes the Super Bowl a great event…and I haven’t even mentioned the commercials. I’m sure my friends from Indianapolis are feeling a bit down right now but New Orleans deserves some time in the sun and the win, as well. It was a great game and something for all Americans to revel in.

There was a time when “Super” Sunday was probably Easter for most people…and really, I’m sure, it still is. But for many, this Super Sunday in the heart of gray and blustery winter is a time to gather with friends and enjoy an American tradition that strengthens our bonds and excites us. The Winter Olympics are up next and we’ll get to feel that spirit again…for Team USA.