The Digital Age & US Olympic Track Trials (Digtal Friday/Process)

Hello, I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing.  Today is Digital Friday and we’re going to wrap up our series around the US Olympic Track and Field Trials with my observations about the impact of the digital age on the trials.

Volunteering at the trials was a great experience for me.  I marvel at the use of digital technology everywhere at the trials.  It didn’t matter if you were a volunteer, a fan, law enforcement or an athlete digital technology played a part in your activities.  I’m going to share with you some of the uses of technology that I observed.

Probably the most important thing at the Olympic Trials was ensuring accurate results captured whether an athlete was racing, jumping or throwing.  Electronic devices were able to measure race timing accurately within a thousandth of a second.  It was very exciting to see results instantly displayed in the stadium because of digital technology.

In the media tent I was watching the photographers, and yes, they are still using big cameras with big lenses.  However, now they are able to load digital files onto their computers and instantly sort through their photos, selecting what they wanted and then instantaneously sending them out to their newspapers and blog sites etc. all over the world.  It was incredible to think how quickly that information was being disseminated to track fans everywhere.

As a volunteer, I was issued a pass which was scanned when I checked in for my shifts.  I was like a product at a grocery store, they knew when I checked in and when I checked out and where I was, again using the digital technologies.

Event programs also benefited from digital technology.  If you’ve been involved with the print media and know how long it can take to create a four color glossy program.  What they were able to at the trials was leverage digital technology to take the results and the photographs from the prior day’s events and insert them into the current day’s programs.  That is remarkable turnaround.

In the stadium, when there was a race, the large-screen monitor showed the race results and replay of the actual races instantly so fans could see again what just transpired on the track.

Social media was also widely used.  I had the opportunity to work with the Nike social media team and Yahoo! Sports and again the ability to tell the story, upload and share it with people all over the world to me is absolutely incredible.

My point of course is that in the digital age there are many tools available that can be used in so many ways.  Ask yourself if your business and your brand are taking advantage of digital technologies the way you should to enhance the experience for your customers, create awareness and drive more bottom line sales.

I hope you enjoyed my week of looking at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials, a little bit of departure from my normal blog but I thought you’d be interested in it.  To discuss an online or face to face service engagement and enhance the marketing and branding for your organization, contact James Glover: (505) 501-1330 or onceadaymarketing@gmail.com.  I’m Jim Glover, That Branding Guy, for Once a Day Marketing and we’ll see you next time.