Large Olympics displays: bigger, better, brighter!
Deputy chief
editor Michael Nikoulichev
(27.02.2002)
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Everyone likes the Olympic Games! Even those not particularly interested in sport. Olympics has long become a well-promoted trade brand that sells practically everything: from sports goods to toothpaste. Not surprisingly, all National Olympic Committees are competing harder than athletes for the right to host the Games. The advantages are tremendous: political and commercial profits justify any operational expenses and costs of new sports facilities, security measures, etc. Major Olympic achievements have less to do with athletic performance than with profit-taking during the Games. |
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Naturally, during
the Games advertisers are ready to pay huge sum of money for placing their
advertisements on any carriers in the gathering areas for spectators.
As always, TV advertising wins major contracts, newspapers and magazines
follow closely, outdoor advertising is traditionally third. Outdoor advertising
sites covered by TV cameras are especially attractive and do not come
cheap. This time the organizers of the Winter Olympics have made their
best to block uncontrolled profits from the Olympics by prohibiting the
distribution of graphic and video information via the Internet (this explains
rather poor quality of our pictures in this Issue). |
Predictably, we are not so much concerned with the number of Olympic medals as with the topics about electronic advertising during the Olympic Games. This type of advertising was represented only too well in Salt-Lake City. The organizers understand well the importance of large TV-quality displays for the entertainment of the public. Therefore, all Olympic stadiums were equipped with large electronic displays: Olympic Medal Plaza - 9õ12 meter display, Ice Center - 6õ8 m, The E Center - 6õ8 m, Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium – tremendous 16õ20 m, at the skiing stadium - 9õ12 m, ski jumping stadium - 9õ12 m, Utah Olympic Park for bobsleigh competitions - 6õ8 m, ski slalom area - 9õ12 meter display (and possibly more).
As always,
the displays broadcast competitions and repeat most exciting moments of athletic
performance. But during the breaks they turn into a major advertising media.
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| Photo of the large electronic display (9x12 meters) at the Salt-Lake City Olympiad in 2002. |
Photo
of the large electronic display at the E Center (6x8 meters) during the
Salt-Lake City Olympiad in 2002.
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Photo
of the large electronic display (6x8 meters) at the Ice Center during
the Salt-Lake City Olympiad in 2002.
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During this Olympiad the organizers have come up with a new entertainment for the public: “display kiss”. During breaks TV cameras roam the audience searching for the kissing couples, and the program editor forwards the enlarged image to huge electronic displays in the stadium. The reaction from the audience is highly predictable. As a result, the public is happy, attention to and awareness of the displays grows, thus, making the advertising efficiency much higher.
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| Photo of the large
electronic display at the E Center during the Salt-Lake City Olympiad in
2002. |
Photo
of the large electronic display at the Ice Center during the Salt-Lake
City Olympiad in 2002.
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Photo
of the large electronic display during the Salt-Lake City Olympiad in
2002.
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What is essential for the authors of this Web-magazine, for display manufacturers world over, for advertisers and sponsors – all Olympic displays are large, the smallest being 6x8 meters. This is understandable: who in a huge stadium would pay attention to a bright but insignificantly small TV display? Naturally, the dimensions of displays must stay in some proportion to dimensions of stadiums or outdoor areas that they are meant to cover. Small display = small profits. And the appetite of Olympic businessmen is practically insatiable. That is the reason for the Olympic displays being huge. As, in fact, they should be everywhere!
Photo references:
1) http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/olympics_winter_2002_photo_gallery/news/2002/01/27/olympic_venues/photo3/ - Bobsleigh at Utah Olympic Park.
2) http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/olympics_winter_2002_photo_gallery/news/2002/01/27/olympic_venues/photo5/ - Rice-Eccles Olympic Stadium
More photos:
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| Photo of the large
electronic display at the E Center during the Salt-Lake City Olympiad in
2002. |
Photo
of the large electronic display (approximately 9x12 meters) at the Salt-Lake
City Olympiad in 2002.
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Photo
of the large electronic display at the Salt-Lake City Winter Olympiad
in 2002.
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One more interesting event with direct reference to electronic displays was described by several informational agencies. During the Closing Day some disturbances were reported at the main city square in Salt-Lake City caused by switching off of the huge informational and advertising display that was operating there. The public was thirsty for entertainment but someone has switched the display off! You see, the displays are important!