The British Olympic Association Case Study

Client Profile and Issue

The British Olympic Association (BOA) is the national Olympic body for the United Kingdom. It is responsible for selecting and taking members of Team GB to the Olympic Games, and for supporting and encouraging elite sport in Olympic disciplines. The BOA wished to mount a bid to bring the 2012 Olympic Games to London, but knew that such a bid would only succeed with active support from the Government, the Mayor of London, and the Opposition Political Parties.

Our Strategy

By commencing an early dialogue with Ministers and with officials at the Department of Culture Media and Sport and the Downing Street Policy Unit we were able to work to support the BOA in identifying the concerns and objections which Government might have to the proposal. We organised a parallel initiative to identify, approach and brief the key Conservative and Liberal Democrat Spokespersons in both Houses of Parliament, and managed the regular submission of briefing notes to Parliamentarians prior to relevant debates in both Houses. We created opportunities for the BOA to disseminate its arguments about the tremendous benefits to the whole of the UK economy that a successful bid would bring, and helped them to convince Government that the Prime Minister could confidently personally endorse the Bid, despite its huge financial cost, because of the professionalism and thoroughness with which the BOA were preparing the detail of the project.

Outcome

Over a period of three years behind the scenes work, the Government was persuaded that it could proceed confidently to endorse the Bid in the knowledge that it would have the support of the Mayor of London, the Conservative Party and the Labour Party, as well as the overwhelming majority of MPs and Peers and the people of London. In July 2005, after an inspiring campaign by the Bid team, the International Olympic Committee announced its selection of London as host city of the 2012 Olympic Games. Whitehouse is proud of the part we played in bringing the Games to London.