Going for gold

16 August 2005



Those first off the blocks will reap the Olympian spoils says Des King


It may be seven years away, but Britain's hosting of the 2012 Olympic Games will have already caused many palms to itch with anticipation.

Understandably, the immediate focus is on a massive redevelopment and regeneration construction and logistics programme. If you're going for gold you have to dig deep. Financial advisors countrywide are even now pinpointing hot and possibly dicey investment options of the bricks and mortar and transportation variety.

For the packaging industry, however, the jam tomorrow opportunities of gain without pain are far less speculative. Never mind just the spectators, all crammed into the various sporting stadia in constant need of refreshment. Thousands more will hit the UK to be close to the action. These are all potential new consumers, but millions of existing ones are already comfortably settled in and primed to be seduced into maxing out on Olympic fever long before the first foreign national anthem is heard.

We've embarked on a collective conversation topic requiring all the endurance of a decathlete to sustain. Way ahead of the opening ceremony the 30th Olympiad will be the only game in town. On-pack promotions, collectible memorabilia and a straightforward uplift in demand should hopefully add up to a sales and marketing bonanza for the entire supply chain.

So far, so predictable - but if you're game for a tip the money market may well overlook, think digital technology. With any Olympic event there can only be a single winner. For the brand owner wanting to have that winner's golden face adorning their packaging while the smell of success still hangs sweetly in the air, there can likewise only be one winner on the shelf. How fast it takes to get it there will be a race in its own right.

But why wait seven years? Success is an everyday, every walk of life occurrence, most tellingly celebrated on a localised basis. Individual volumes may be short-run and short-duration, so this is all about sprinting rather than long-distance, but the cumulative effect has all the impact of breaking news time and time again.

On demand, topical pack design is an attainable golden goal right now, albeit the exception not the rule. By 2012 it should have become par for the course. Make sure your track record is similarly established.


Des King Des King


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