Powerful Branding & Brand Leaders

One of the most enduring and top-of-mind brands in the world has to be the Olympic Games. Revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin in 1896, the Summer Olympic Games held in Athens, Greece was the first installment in this series of once-in-four-years, international games that fondly honours the Greek Games – today known as the Olympic Movement.

Brand extensions came about with the Olympics Winter Games, Paralympics and now, the Youth Olympic Games. The latter coincides with the Winter Olympic Games that has taken place in Calgary, Lake Placid, Nagano, Torino, and Vancouver in 2010.

Singapore won the bid to host the inaugural Singapore Youth Olympic Games (SYOG) from 14-26 August 2010. The athletes will range from 14-18 years and participate in 26 sports. The core values that athletes will imbibe and imbue are Excellence, Respect and Friendship.

Leadership Lessons: Baron Coubertin was an initiator of the Games. He gathered a tribe large enough to sustain his legacy for another 110 years. He was also an unsung brand leader for conceptualizing the Olympic brand: logo, ideals, and values. Brand extension was an obvious derivative of the successful brand, and brand following.