"With Hill Holliday's Marketing Support, Boston Will Bid For 2024 Summer Olympic Games"

From MediaPost

Analysis by Margo Savage in KIN 501

Hosting the Olympics is an honor that is bestowed upon only a few select cities. There is certain criteria and many years of planning that go in to make the Olympics a success. Through a meticulous process, Boston has been chosen as the American Olympic bid for the 2024 Olympics. After reading “With Hill Holiday’s Marketing Support, Boston Will Bid For 2024 Summer Olympic Games,” it is easy to see the different layers that are present in the years leading up to the games.

Although Boston has not been chosen as the city for the 2024 Summer Olympics, there is already backlash surrounding the possibility of the city hosting the games. In the article, some of this backlash is addressed: It includes topics such as the cost attached with hosting the games, the security concerns after the recent terrorist attack during the 2013 Boston Marathon, and what the citizens of Boston think about hosting the games. On the flipside, the article also addresses some positive aspects. These positive components include the business that it will bring to the city, the notoriety that Boston will receive, and the perseverance that the city can show from rising from recent tragedy.

From a marketing standpoint, I think that Hill Holiday takes the right angle for Boston 2024. They present, in their “Beacon” video, the idea of patriotism. The video starts out showing a person in an old colonial outfit who passes off the “beacon” to an Olympic horse racer. From there, the beacon travels through the city visiting different athletes in a plethora of sports venues. The idea and theme behind the video is that patriotism is passed on and runs through the veins of the city in all aspects. It shows significant Boston landmarks such as the Charles River and Boylston Street.

I thought that the use of the blue light across the advertising was good for Hill Holiday. It gave different advertisements a sense of uniformity and something that people could easily identify as part of the Olympic brand. I also liked that the icon traveled around the city of Boston to show the highlights of the town. Finally, the aspect that I liked the most from these advertisements was the sense of perseverance and pure grit from the people of Boston. I think that Hill Holiday wanted to capitalize on the face that the people of Boston are “Boston Strong” and that they are determined to continue on, no matter what hardships come their way.