The heavy-hand of LOCOG
What an extraordinary Olympics, for team GB, people GB and LOCOG.
The sponsors seem to have had their commercial deals fulfilled, although I wonder if BMW are peeved that Rolls Royce got inside the Olympic Stadium for last night’s closing ceremony, as chariots of bling.
The Olympic legacy will be mainly left to sporting, cultural and political bodies but I think GB’s heritage brands, of which there are many, will want to be taking into account the re-launch of brand GB, and what it means for them. Harking back to bygone days and rose-tinted nostalgia seems to have been superseded by modernity, quirky, fun and other characteristics the finest planners will be including in their brand’s sound-cloud.
After all this positivity it would seem churlish to even mention some of the heavy-handedness dished out by LOCOG. Unnecessarily harassing small businesses and grannies getting into the five-ringed spirit and an overly-complicated and under-subscribed poster site auction, are two examples.
What has got my Monday morning back-up it them censoring my social media?
I live in London Fields and have a really good view from high-up of the Olympic Stadium.
For the opening ceremony I tried to take some video of the fireworks. The quality using my mobile was so poor the only example I published was a short solarised video clip, on YouTube here.
Last night for the opening ceremony I dug out an old digital camera, mounted it on a tiny tripod and pointed it out the window. The results are no technical or artistic achievement, being a bit wobbly and out of focus. I’d been enjoying last night’s twitter-feed, adding so much to BBC’s TV coverage, so I posted the video on YouTube, tweeted and went to bed.
This morning a tweet tells me the video’s been removed by LOCOG.
Why? It was taken from my private space outside the Olympic facilities by myself and not ripped from a broadcaster.
I can only think LOCOG have some kind of quality control jobsworth who thought the poor quality would damage the Olympic brand. If that is the case they don’t understand the very nature of social media, sharing, good or bad.
Even Usain Bolt said there were too many people in the stadium telling you what to do. I really hope the legacy for brand GB isn’t tainted by people seen by many as petty, mean-spirited and/or stupid.
So put my video back-up now, at least ten people will want to watch it.
You can read my other blogs and about what I do here: www.balloo.co.uk
