As the 2024 Paris Olympics Begin, Olympic-level Place Marketing Hits Primetime

Since their inception in 1896, the Olympics have always represented something much larger than sports. The Games undeniably serve as a unique platform for countries to position themselves as a ‘land of opportunity’ on the international stage. Traditionally, the Olympics are renowned for bringing people and countries together to tell their stories through the power of competition, and through the personal stories around the lives of their athletes.

In addition to the national messaging that infiltrates the Games, the opportunity to host the Games is perhaps one of the most expensive but highest profile earned media messaging opportunities a city could ever have, and we’re most definitely here for it

A Storytelling Opportunity that’s Bigger than ‘the Games’ Themselves

For a city who successfully bids to host the Olympics, their first audience is targeted through the bidding process. At that point, they have the opportunity to make a case for themselves, and their messaging for their community is strongly developed around the logistics and the costs at this point.

But between the time a city wins the Games, and the time they actually host them, a lot can transpire, and then their most challenging audience becomes the target – the general public. From major political dramas to infrastructural issues to environmental disasters, the stakes get higher and the pressure builds as the reputation of the host city gets closer to opening day.

For the city and the host committee’s communication leaders, maintaining a positive public relations opportunity out of the global event can be an impressive feat, no matter the challenges that arise.

The Key Messages Paris Seems to Be Successfully Landing

This year, Paris’ PR team has worked hard to highlight their approach to hosting the Games as the greenest and most affordable Games ever.

In an era rife with inflation, the affordability factor is actually QUITE impressive. By reutilizing facilities originally built 100 years ago for their hosting of the 1924 Olympic Games, the Paris Olympics Committee made great strides to reduce the environmental impact typically arising as a result of new construction. By building an Olympic Village that will become utilized as affordable housing in the future, they are also showcasing affordability by creating a venue that will fulfill a demand that extends much longer than the life of the two-week Games.

On the environmental front, their focus on reusing existing buildings and expanding their public transportation offerings will make a long-term sustainability impact for generations to come. Considerable investment has been made in extending two subway lines — including one that will now connect the Paris-Orly Airport to the city center. The other rail expansion brings online a commuter train route that will help move visitors from site to site for the Games, and then residents across town with ease.  250 miles of bike lanes were also added to expand access to Olympic venues.

Overall, these initiatives, told with strong messaging and specificity in the Paris games, are doing a great job of helping the total Olympic brand rebuild its reputation as one less rife with negative host city impact like was seen in Beijing in 2008 and in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

The Priority Messages Paris Might Not be Successfully Landing

On the hot topic of urban homelessness, an issue that has grown in public discourse greatly in recent years, Paris has not necessarily handled the issue seamlessly. While the community has been working hard to eradicate homelessness through efforts to provide supportive housing and resources, their timing in its proximity to the Games has created an appearance of only doing the work for purposes of the “photo opps.” In the future, host cities should proactively work on sustainable solutions to these types of social issues well in advance of hosting or even bidding on the Games, learning from some of the negative press Paris has received on this issue.

Additionally, the city took a high-profile stance on cleaning up the Seine, with plans to utilize the river to host the Games’ swim marathon event. Thanks to an unfortunate recent heavy rain event, though, the cleanup project may not be completed in time for the event, and their large publicity focus on the project is now backfiring. In spite of the environmental surprise, the host city seems to be managing the highly-publicized issue well, even having their own Mayor swim in the river in a televised publicity stunt.

Smooth Sailing, and Storytelling, into the Opening Ceremony

In all, even in spite of the global technology outage that disrupted airlines and banks around the world last week also impacting the 2024 Paris Olympics, the 2024 Olympic Games seem to be on track for a high caliber execution as the Opening Ceremony stage is set. With strategic focus on economic and environmental efficiency, the City of Light has overall positively utilized the spotlight of the Games to effectively draw attention to the market.

In my opinion, amidst the backdrop of political unrest, a major global election year, economic volatility, and much more, team Paris deserves an A+ on the public relations front.