Shifting plans for the postponed the Tokyo Games for all involved is not as simple as changing dates on a calendar. NBC Sports Group CMO & Exec VP/Content Strategy Jenny Storms, speaking yesterday during the CAA World Congress Comes To You virtual event, said the Games moving to '21 requires new thinking on how to present the Olympics, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. She said, “The Games represent something more. The meaning and the impact of the Olympics is going to be that much greater. And the American consumer is going to change. They have changed already. ... We have to take those two things together and really bring them to life in a new way. The Olympics should be the first global unifying event where we really see the world coming together. It will be more than a moment of healing. It’s going to be an incredible moment of humanity.” Storms said that people have been consuming roughly five weeks' worth of programming in four weeks through various methods and reconsidering how and why they do things, naturally leading to changes. She needs to determine how best to satisfy those needs. Storms: “My expectation is the meaning of the Olympics -- what it means to people and this sense of inspiration and unification -- is going to take on that much more meaning, and it’s important for us through messaging that we’re ready to bring that to life.”
TIGHT TURNAROUND: The last day of the Tokyo Games next year will be the start of a busy six months for NBC Sports. Not only will the conclusion of that stretch be marked by the start of the '22 Beijing Games, but also sandwiched in between will be Super Bowl LVI. NBC Sports is calling that its "180-Day Plan." Storms: "We think it’s meaningful and actually poetic, because we are going to turn things on its head. How we do it and what we do for those 180 days will be like people have never seen before. Those plans and that strategy are just starting to come into place because we just learned about these new dates. … This is the time to get ahead of things. This is the time to set the table for something spectacular and incredible that America will probably never see again."
