Winter YOG 2012

It has now been 1 week since the Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck ended. A quick web search will reveal many wonderful performances from young athlete's around the world, including women's half-pipe gold medalist Hikaru Ohe of Japan. Yet how many of you were even aware the Winter YOG took place at all? As I discuss in my new book, The Olympic Games Effect, the YOG is designed to bring the youth of the world together to participate in sport, education and culture while living by Olympic values. This is an admirable ambition, but not enough people know about it. Granted, the YOG is a new mega-sports event, leveraging off the success of the regular Olympics, so there may be confusion about what makes it unique. Also, new sports brands are not built overnight. But a more aggressive marketing plan needs to be developed to build awareness about the YOG overall, and to clearly describe the factors that make it unique as compared to the regular Olympics. The winter sports TV, social media, and print coverage in the U.S. discussed the just concluded Winter X Games. While the Winter X Games were established in 1995 and therefore have had time to grow, the YOG has its work cut out for it in the years ahead if it wants to craft a compelling event worthy of Olympic stature while building a global fan base.