Madrid Mayor Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón has unveiled a new official Website at www.madrid2012.es
to help promote his City’s Olympic bid for the 2012 Games.
The site developed by Accenture is highly interactive and prepares the bid for the international field. It contains content in the three official International Committee (IOC) languages (Spanish, English and French). The previous site had been designed to compete for the national nomination against Seville.
As well as news and information about Madrid’s bid, there is a wide array of multimedia content including photographs, video presentations, music, postcards and images and ringtones for wireless telephones. There is also an area for volunteers to sign up and get access to additional media information.
The release comes at a time when the bids, especially those from Europe, are jostling for postition in the media and shortly before bid organizers gather in Lausanne this week to meet with the IOC, glean strategic information and react to the starter’s pistol.
To date, Madrid’s Web presence is by far the most advanced. Paris released a branded Website several weeks ago but it lacks useful content. London published a basic site with no logo and only general information. Leipzig and New York have advanced Websites as a legacy of their national nominations but both have promised new content and rebranding shortly.
Istanbul continues to publish a site based on their 2008 bid and Moscow and Rio de Janeiro have only out-of-date informational pages online. Havana has yet to establish any Web presence.
Professional and informative Websites first became a critical component of an Olympic bid campaign in the 2008 Summer Games race after the IOC banned member visits to candidate cities in the wake of the bribery scandal. They provide an effective means of communicating internationally and to IOC members before the bid would normally be able to begin a traditional international marketing effort.
Bids have used Websites to rally local support, sign up volunteers and distribute bid books to IOC members and the public helping promote campaign transparency. Now, in what is becoming the most fiercely contested bid in history, Internet surfers should expect the unexpected as they will be able to participate in critical communications between bid groups and the IOC first-hand.
