PRWeek has learned that representatives from the ODA are planning to meet agency bosses over the next two weeks to thrash out ideas.
A formal pitch process could follow.
After the Games, the athletes village will be converted into 2,800 new homes. Organisers hope to develop a ‘community feel’ in the area, with new parks, open space, transport links and community facilities including a state of the art school.
News of the PR talks come only days after the Mayor of Vancouver announced its winter Olympic village had been placed in receivership. Following Vancouver’s Games in February, developers tried to sell 1,018 units, but 454 remain unsold.
The ODA currently handles all comms around the Olympic village, including showing journalists the site when it is completed.
Following the Games, the Olympic Park Legacy Company has been tasked with devising an ongoing plan for the use of the park’s facilities, including the velodrome, athletics stadium and aquatics centre. But the
village sits outside the Olympic Park and will not fall under the remit of the OPLC – so external help will be
required to handle the PR after 2012.
An ODA spokesman confirmed: ‘All comms for the construction of the Olympic Park and venues, including the Olympic village, is led by the in-house ODA comms team and this will not change.
'However, the ODA is exploring whether any additional PR support is required specifically for the long-term sales and marketing of the new homes on the village site.’
Freud Communications is the lead UK PR agency for the 2010 Olympics, with Hill & Knowlton and Edelman on the roster to handle specific projects.
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