As of Sunday 20 June the advertising and promotional activities of the ATHENS 2004 Organising
Committee for the Olympic Games will move into top gear abroad.

The campaign is mainly being launched on television but there are additional advertising placements in top periodicals and newspapers in key countries to create a positive image. The uniqueness of the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Games is being presented via athletes and their performance: the return to the land where they were born and the city where they were revived, in a modern, dynamic, European setting.

Besides coverage on global and European networks – CNN Int’l, BBC World, and Eurosport – the campaign will also be launched in the largest national television networks in countries abroad such as NBC in America, ITV, Channel 4 and 5 in Great Britain, France 2, France 3 and Canal+ in France and ZDF, RTL, RTL2, ARD, SAT1, KABEL 1, VOX and PRO7 in Germany with spots lasting 50 to 60 seconds. The campaign will be backed up with printed placements in selected periodicals and newspapers in Europe and the USA .

ATHENS 2004 has chosen the two months before the Games as the duration of the campaign to optimise available funds earmarked for publicity. For this period there will be 57% coverage of the French public reaching some 30 million television viewers, 56% coverage of the German public, to reach 40 million TV viewers, and 52% coverage of the public in Great Britain with 29 million viewers. In the US the publicity campaign will target specific states on the West and East coast. Since the effectiveness of the campaign is reduced if expenditure is spread over a longer period of time, the chosen period gives ideal time to make the most of the TV crews assembled to service the communication campaigns for the IOC and for International Sponsors, traditionally at their most active shortly before the Games, and of course to service the ATHENS 2004 Olympic Torch Relay and the exposure it generates. Gradual delivery of infrastructure works is also the most powerful foundation on which to build the look of the Games in Greece.

The ATHENS 2004 TV spot is the apex of promotional activities abroad over the last three years, comprising a strong presence at international tourist fairs, hundreds of interviews, and close cooperation with the Media worldwide as part of the task of informing international public opinion about developments in key organisational aspects of the Olympic Games.

The ATHENS 2004 TV advertising spot has been produced by the company’s Communication Division and Games Promotion Department. It was filmed entirely in Greece, with the help of Greek athletes and Sport Federations, at Olympic Venues.

The TV spot will be translated into French and German and will also be broadcast in Greece as part of the broader communication planning of OCOG ATHENS 2004 set to peak at the start of the Games.

In contrast with Sydney OCOG, ATHENS 2004 will additionally use national channels in target countries for its international advertising.

For more details contact:

ATHOC
International Media Desk
T: +30 210 2004 002
E: mediadesk@athens2004.gr