Pique News Magazine reports that organizations like Tourism Whistler are hoping for the chance to use Vancouver’s Olympic logo in the years leading up to the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Vancouver’s Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) will be developing a new logo for the 2010 Games next year.
Although no host city has had the privilege of using the logo in the past, Maureen Douglas, director of community relations for the Whistler 2010 Info Centre said the Games’ organizing committee would like to negotiate specific logo use with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
According to Pique News Magazine, Douglas said, “what this organizing committee would like to be able to do…is to let tourism marketing associations…potentially use the logo on non-commercial material”.
The committee is asking the IOC to allow non-profit tourism organizations, like Tourism Whistler, Tourism B.C. and the Canadian Tourism Commission, to use the Olympic logo on basic global marketing material.
According to IOC rules the Olympic logo can only be used by the transition team and its partners and only for non-commercial use. Douglas said the IOC has to ensure that they don’t devalue the brand for the official Olympic sponsors. “It’s about protecting the Olympic image and Olympic opportunity”, she said.
Meanwhile about 25,000 volunteers will be needed during the Games – up to 10,000 in the Whistler area and 5,000-8,000 volunteers for the Paralympic Games.
Pique reports that Douglas said the transition team is working hard until the new board is in place. She said by 2004, once the OCOG is in working order, the work will really begin, particularly on the venue construction.
