Olympics ticket communications
I confess. I’ve got Olympics tickets. Not sure which ones but I know I’ve had some success in the ballot. Those of you who haven’t been lucky may start hissing now but I think the process was as fair as possible. Would I feel the same way if I hadn’t been fortunate? I honestly can’t say but the whole communications process around Olympic ticketing should have had some affect.
I say should because that’s the point of communications. If, in such a situation, they don’t influence or inform then they are meaningless. In this case we’ve got to ask whether people applied for tickets with too high expectations and/or too little understanding. And if either of these is true then the report on 2012 communications points to a place outside the medals.
It’s always difficult trying to get messaging right for such a large and disparate audience as ticket applicants obviously were. Around two million, in every part of the UK, an array of backgrounds, and almost certainly spread from 18 to 80. Just a couple of shared characteristics; having a Visa card of some sort and an interest in sport. It was going to be impossible to ensure that everyone knew everything about the process but does that mean that every effort was made?
I’m not sure it was. Maybe the organisers gave us too much credit for realising the nature of the operation. I regard myself as being fairly aware of what sports event demands might be, and knew it was highly unlikely I wouldn’t get everything I asked for (and my bank account is grateful for that). Yet it wasn’t until after the ballot and subsequent public criticism that the real complexity, and efforts to be fair, was made clear. Every one of the large number of different event sessions, and all the price bands in them, were individually balloted. Over 75% of the tickets were on general sale.
A rule of communications is to govern expectation. Whilst the organisers wanted to build excitement and demand, they could also have made a much stronger communications effort in making it clearer that we needed to rein in our expectations. And it would have been easy to stress that unsuccessful applicants would have first crack at the next release of tickets. Again this is something that only comes to the fore after the ballot.
Every organisation wants there to be demand for its services. They want to get people beating a path to their door. But they also have a responsibility to look at how they’re communicating with their potential customers/users. Don’t build up expectations unnecessarily. Think about potential pitfalls and criticisms. The Olympics may not return in our lifetimes. Nearly every other organisation will be dealing with its own reputation long after a launch or new initiative. Goodwill makes for long term success and it’s made so much easier to build if you get your communications plan thought through and robust at the beginning.
Meanwhile I’ll wait to hear precisely what tickets I’ve got!
Posted on: 9th June 2011 in
