On The Ground: The Marketing Arm's Mary O'Connor
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| The Marketing Arm's Mary O'Connor |
Mary O'Connor heads The Marketing Arm's Olympic division, leading all Olympic sponsorship initiatives for agency clients.
She took time to answer our questions before leaving for Beijing and will periodically answer our questions during the 17-day event.
What will be your role in Beijing?
O’Connor: I'll be overseeing the execution of AT&T's Olympic Marketing Program -- including NGB sponsored activities, hospitality, and management of client athlete relationships.
What are you most interested in while at the Games?
O’Connor: I'm most interested in witnessing how the nation as a whole will embrace the Games — citizens, broadcasters and government officials who have been waiting for this moment for seven years. Now that all of the hard work and planning has come to fruition, what will be the reaction of the Chinese people? Will there be an unmistakable positive energy around the city of Beijing? Will the Chinese people's focus be on their athletes' victories and defeats? Or will it be about a nation's ability to execute what many are saying will be the greatest Olympic Games we've ever witnessed — China's "coming out party?" In the U.S., the answer would be a given — it would be about the athletes; their stories of triumph and defeat, the medals won.
What's been the biggest area of preparation?
O’Connor: The majority of my team's onsite Beijing prep has been done for 6-12 months. Our main focus has been on the execution of our client's domestic activation program -- AT&T Team USA Soundtrack. It's a unique program that brings 16 top names in musical talent together with Olympic fans of all ages -- all benefiting Team USA. It's one of the best (and most time consuming) programs I've ever worked on.
What are you looking forward to the most, and concerned about the most?
O’Connor: I'm most looking forward to the events themselves. I'm excited to finally get a look inside the venues (I've heard the "Bird’s Nest" is amazing) and to see how the athletes perform. While I'll be cheering for Team USA, I'm also interested to see how some of the other power athletes like Liu Xiang, Yao Ming, Usain Bolt and Stephanie Rice stack up against their U.S. competition. The event that intrigues me the most, however, is table tennis. I can't imagine anything more intense than table tennis in China!
What books are you bringing to read?
O’Connor: It's a long trip, so I'm taking a lot to read. The one I'm most looking forward to is “Big Russ & Me” by Tim Russert. I also packed “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer and “Nineteen Minutes” by Jodi Picoult.
Any other thoughts?
O’Connor: The one thing that I hope to see at the Olympic events are the locals. With the ticket issues that sponsors faced, I can only hope that part of the shortage was because the Chinese people are holding tickets. And by people, I mean locals, not just the government officials. After years of hard work, the residents of Beijing deserve a chance to share in the spirit of the Olympics from inside the venues!
Do you have a question for Mary? If so, let us know at beijinggames@sportsbusinessdaily.com
