An Olympic Experience A Child Will Sure Remember

After only four years of discussions with the International Olympic Committee, McDonalds was granted rare Olympic access.  Approximately 200 children were given the opportunity to attend the 2012 London games.  The children were granted access that took them behind the scenes.  They were given the opportunity to try archery at Lord’s Cricket Grounds and play beach volleyball at Horse Guards Parade.  The US archery team even let them hold their freshly won silver medals.

Back in 2008 McDonald’s began asking the IOC if it could provide a unique Olympic experience for kids.  “It was modeled after an activation the company had used successfully during its sponsorship of the FIFA World Cup” (Mickle, 2012).  For the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, McDonalds had brought a few hundred children to the games.  They were able to tour the great wall of china and many other tourist spots, but they were never given the opportunity to set foot on the field where the games were held or meet the Olympic athletes.  After Beijing McDonald’s looked to improve this experience for children and make it more of an Olympic experience and less of a tourist experience. 

As McDonald’s worked out the logistics with the IOC, London’s Olympic Committee worked with McDonald’s to ensure that McDonald’s was granted access.  Each child was able to bring one parent to the “Champions of Play” (Mickle, 2012) program.  The selection process involved the child writing an essay about “teamwork or overcoming a challenge in sports” (Mickle, 2012). Their visit to London would last three days.  They were granted access to walk on the swim deck at the aquatics center, try their hand at archery, beach volleyball and meet Olympians like Swimmer Dara Torres, speedskater Joey Cheek, canoer Antonio Rossi –“giving each child a medal” (Mickle, 2012). In the end the program was a true success.  But McDonald’s has already begun to look at ways to improve this Olympic experience for both Sochi and Rio.

Mickle, T. (2012). Mcdonald's gets kids in the games. Street & Smith's Sports Business Journal, 15(16), 1, 33.