26 Interesting Facts about The London Olympics 2012

The London Olympic 2012

Potential spectators are waiting patiently in the wings, bank accounts plugged and tickets flow across the country like confetti. The London Olympics is nearly here! Cherry White Design have devised a short list of interesting facts about what this Olympics means for Britain. So whether you are a looking for ways to promote your business during this time or simply just an interested spectator, read on:

1. 26 Olympic sports will be played

2. 19 Paralympic sports will be played

3. There will be 60-70 London 2012 sponsors

4. The London economy is projected to grow by $80 billion by 2015

5. The Games are projected to generate 12,000 new jobs in the Olympic Park

6. 31 competition venues will be utilised

7. 20,000 press/media will be in attendance

8. 10km of new roads will be built

9. There will be 500,000 spectators per day

10. 9,000 new homes will be built

11. There will be 9.6million tickets for sale – 8million for the Olympics and 1.6million for the Paralympics.

12. Organisers say 75 per cent of all tickets will cost less than £50 and offer free travel on London transport.

13. A sell-out rate of 82 per cent for the Olympic Games and 63 per cent for the Paralympics is estimated.

14. Tickets for the athletics will start at £15 and there will be 20,000 £10 tickets for the Olympic Park to watch

15. The village will be converted into 3,600 apartments, most of them will be affordable housing.

16. After the Games four arenas would be ‘deconstructed’ and relocated to other parts of the UK along with the swimming pools that are used for water polo and the
50m training pools.

17. Charities will be given the sports equipment used in the Games for free.

18. 80 per cent of athletes would be within 20 minutes of their events and 97 per cent of athletes within 30 minutes of their events.

19. 93 per cent of training venues are to be within 30 minutes of the athletes village.

20. There are 9,000 planned park and ride spaces to be made available at Ebbsfleet where spectators can board a 10-minute javelin service to the Olympic Park. This
is the same station where continental spectators travelling by Eurostar will join the javelin to the Olympic Park.

21. It is predicted that on event days 78 per cent of spectators are likely to travel from within London and 22 per cent from the rest of the UK and Europe.

22. By 2012 it is estimated that over 135,000 hotel rooms will be available within 50km of the Olympic Park, up from 120,000 presently.

23. Number of foreign visitors: 350,000 per day

24. Food and Beverage potential: 18 million meals

25. Value of tourism benefit: an additional £2.1 billion

26. Total workforce needed: 200,000

It would appear that the royal wedding is a gift that keeps on giving, first a long weekend off work and then to top it all off a much needed boost to our economy but how will this affect our marketing strategy?

The Royal Wedding

First the facts and figures:
The tourist authority VisitBritain predicts the worldwide TV event of the year, will trigger a tourism boom that will last several years, pulling in an extra 4m visitors and some £2bn for the country’s coffers.

In the short term, accountancy firm Price Waterhouse Cooper estimates that the influx of wedding watchers delivered a £107m boost to London including our hotels, West End shops and restaurant trade.

The British Retail Consortium forecast that shops and pubs will benefit by nearly £500m. With 5,500 street parties in full swing with the biggest beneficiaries being the supermarkets, as people piled their tables with patriotic nosh such as sausage rolls, Coronation chicken and Victoria sponge. Sales of Wills and Kate merchandise, which ranged from mugs and tea towels to union flag contact lenses, were estimated to be at £26m!

Middleton’s recent move into the limelight leading up to the wedding has made her fashion’s latest icon with fans scanning shops for the latest Middleton must have’s! High street chains Reiss and Whistles have already enjoyed the benefits, after the bride wore their clothes in her official engagement photos.

So what’s next for us marketers?

Well in short B2C marketing demand is raising its game with retailers poised to deliver the latest supplement of this fairy tale story, articles are popping up all over ranging from the “how to catch a Prince” anecdotes to the “get the look” featured spreads in our favourite glossy magazines. Retailers are set to make huge profits in the pursuit to offer aspiring Princesses everywhere an affordable alternative to Catherine’s understated and classic look. Young adults all over the country have started to engage with the latest royal happenings sparking a new fan base for the monarchy’s previously traditional image, why is this? Well its simple PR really the couple are young, relatable and stylish. Young people across the country have been following this story through social media, forums, blogs and tabloid stories within this growing fan base breeds a celebrity lifestyle admired by its readers, so will we see a Posh and Becks monomania? Who can tell all we know is that this is just the tip of the iceberg!