Adam Lippard is head of global sports and entertainment consulting for GMR Marketing, a position he filled in February 2016 when Jan Katzoff retired. After he oversees several client projects at Super Bowl LII, Lippard will travel to the Pyeongchang Winter Games. With 160 employees on the ground in Korea, GMR will execute 15 activations for eight clients. GMR’s Olympic work ranges from soup-to-nuts consulting for Procter & Gamble, to operational duties for Omega, to Visa’s on-site showcases and hospitality programs. It will be Lippard’s sixth Olympics in person.
The Olympics were fundamentally founded on the idea of peace, and the notion that people can put down their weapons for a period of time, which would be sacred and promote peace. … I don’t think there’s another property out there, and particularly with its amateur status, that’s working to accomplish such lofty things. It’s such a unique time in our world’s history, and having an Olympics in South Korea, from a geographical perspective, I think that’s what makes it so unique and different.
GMR Marketing
What makes the Olympics different from everything else GMR does? It’s the length of the event, the number of events, the complexity of operating for brands, and how brands activate within a 17-day environment. More specifically, [it’s advising] how brands can take advantage of those rights across multiyear periods. To deal with so many sports, the number of competitions, the number of athletes and the number of opportunities that provides to our stakeholders, to be able to maximize their rights and take advantage of just the massive amount of opportunity is what makes it complex.
What in particular is challenging about South Korea? Just how far and remote it is. It’s not only in South Korea, but it’s hours away from Seoul, and unlike an event where you could have had city-based activities and mountain-based activities, the IOC and the bid was focused on having everything in the mountain regions in Pyeongchang. It creates a logistical challenge to not only get people to Korea, but then get people from Seoul to Pyeongchang, which is why you’ve seen alternative forms of activations — brands just choosing to stay in Seoul, or the USOC’s programs that are taking place domestically.
In your experience, what makes a Games good or bad? It’s the feeling you get. It’s how things are operating. The extent to which there’s relative ease or complexity in the model. Certainly very tangible things matter, like weather — is it going to be unbearable to be outside, or is it just going to be cold? Will things run smoothly in that regard? And the other part of the feeling is, is there sort of a palpable community and sense of nationalism that’s springing up? Do you feel the presence of the international community? Do you get the sense and the feeling that Olympism is palpable, and a galvanizing energy? Those are more intangible, but [it] also makes a really amazing Olympic Games when that feeling’s there.
How are you feeling about Pyeongchang? Right now, I’m trusting the sentiment we’re hearing from our team there, which is largely positive. I will obviously know a lot more when I arrive, but the over-arching feeling is a sense of cautious optimism that our client plans and programs are well-structured and well-received.
— Ben Fischer
