London 2012 Olympics PR chief denies publication priority as comms strategy revealed
“All media enquiries are equally as important” stated London 2012’s head of PR and media Joanna Manning-Cooper denying rumours of any sort of priority for certain publications. With the London 2012 Olympic Games in full swing the pressure is on for the Games press team.
With rumours circulating that some publications take priority over others, The Drum spoke with Manning-Cooper to find out what’s going on behind the scenes at what is sure to be the UK’s busiest press office.
She explained that the media team is based out of two press offices; “one in the main press centre and one in our offices at Canary Wharf” equipped with an army of over 3000 media related staff, the press office at London 2012 is dealing with “literally thousands” of enquires from around the globe each day.
Manning-Cooper continued to explain how the team is structured: “The media and PR team is made up of LOCOG staff and volunteers, with a few secondees from PR agencies we have worked with. We have 50 people in total.
“The press operations team which makes sure the media have the right facilities and services in the venues to do their work – is around 3000 people at Gamestime, including photographic services. Many of these team members are volunteers.”
She also revealed that at Gamestime the PR and media department “works as part of one big team” as opposed to individually, with “all our media and PR operations running 24/7 at Gamestime.”
As well as covering traditional media publications, Manning-Cooper told The Drum that London 2012 is equally as focused on new media, with specialised team “of staff and volunteers looking after the Games website and new media channels, 24/7” utilising all social media “to make sure that we can get our messages across to the world through a range of social media channels.”