As London hosts the 30th modern edition of the Olympic Games, Dr Craig Barker from the University's Nicholson Museum and Michelle Kiss, a Year 10 work experience student from William Carey Christian School, evoke the ancient Olympic spirit with a look at the origins of the world's oldest sporting festival that may provide parallels for the next three weeks of competition in London.

• The first Olympic Games took place in 776 BC at Olympia in Greece, a sanctuary site devoted to the Greek god Zeus. The ancient Olympics were held every four years, a tradition that remains today. However, whereas cities around the world compete to host the modern games, ancient-world athletes always competed in Olympia.

• Olympia boomed as the games increased in importance — a statue of Zeus was one of the Seven Wonders of the ancient world — before the games were eventually abolished by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in 394 AD, supposedly because they were reminiscent of paganism. While there is much talk of the legacy of London 2012, Olympia and its athletic stadium is an important historical and archaeological site.

• In 2012, news surfaced that Australia's men's basketball team travelled to London in business class while their female equivalents languished in economy. However, during the first ancient games, gender equality in sport was even worse: women couldn't compete. Competitors were split into two groups, boys (12-18 years) and men (18+ years). Horses were also split into colts and fully grown age groups.

• While the composition of the crowds of spectators is less well understood, it's likely that only males and young girls were allowed to watch.

• In antiquity, a lit flame was tended throughout the celebration of the Olympics, and the idea of the fire was reintroduced in 1928 in Amsterdam. Every four years the Olympic flame is lit in front of the Temple of Hera then carried by torch to the host city. The torch relay was not an ancient practice and was introduced at the controversial 1936 Berlin Olympics.

• Judges were handpicked from people living in Elis, the area surrounding Olympia. The 'Elean Judges' enforced strict rules on the competitors: fines were issued for failing to arrive on time for the training period, cheating and for cowardice.

• Events in the ancient Olympics included foot races, discus, jump, javelin, boxing, pentathlon, pankration (a blend of boxing and wrestling) and chariot races. Most events, including the races, discus and javelin, took place in the Stadium of Olympia with other events taking place in the surrounding area.

• Before the start of any Olympic Games a truce would be announced, proclaiming that all wars, disputes and death penalties be put on hold until the end of the games. This truce also guaranteed athletes a safe journey to Olympia in the month leading up to the games. The truce was written on a bronze discus and placed in Olympia. The modern International Olympic Committee has revived the tradition of the truce, and all 193 United Nations member states have, for the first time, united to co-sponsor the Olympic Truce Resolution for the 2012 London Olympics.

• the sixth-century BC wrestler Milo of Croton, who was said to have died when he was wedged against a tree during a display of strength gone wrong and subsequently devoured by wolves

• Astylos, also of Croton, who competed at Olympic Games between 488 and 480 BC, but was expelled from his home city when he agreed to compete for Syracuse, and so can lay claim to being the first free-agent in sporting history

• Roman emperor Nero, who despite being thrown from his chariot in the 10-horse race at the 67 AD games, was still proclaimed the winner on the grounds that he would have won had he been able to complete the race

McDonald's makes it all about it all about the people at the 2012 London Olympics with this new TV advert entitled "We All Make The Games."

Press:
McDonald’s UK’s £10 million responsive advertising campaign to celebrate London 2012 – ‘We All Make The Games’ — was designed to use a multitude of media channels to capture, replay and celebrate the people, moments, and emotions that are helping make the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games such a spectacular event.

The overarching campaign launched on 25 June 2012 with in-store activity and outdoor advertising. TV, press and digital outdoor ads and other digital activity have followed, including a Facebook app which allows members of the British public and visitors to the Games to upload photos of themselves, friends and relatives getting into the spirit of the Games.

As Team GB make their way up the medal table and more people are getting swept along in the excitement of the Games, hundreds of moments of nationwide celebration are being captured through the user-generated element of the campaign.

McDonald’s has had over 20,000 active users of the Facebook App, in the period 13th to 30th July and 60 user-generated images have already been featured as part of the campaign – up on Piccadilly Lights in central London; printed in the Sun newspaper as half page ads; featured on the McDonald’s UK Facebook page and McDonald’s.co.uk and across digital outdoor screens across the UK.

A re-edited 60 second filmed documentary ad breaks on Saturday 4th August. Now titled ‘We’re all making the Games’, real fans have been filmed during the first week of the Games, capturing the highs, the lows, the passion and the those little intimate moments.

A selection of the user-generated images and additional filmed documentary material that is currently being captured at various fan parks across the UK will also be developed into a TV commercial developed especially for the Closing Ceremony.

Credits:
Creative Agency — Leo Burnett London
Copywriters — Mark Franklin & Rob Tenconi
Art Directors — Mark Franklin & Rob Tenconi
Creative Director — Adam Tucker
Planners — Tom Roach & Kit Patrick
Production Company — Moxie Pictures
Directors — Luke Franklin & Neil Gorringe
Production Company Producer — Jess Ensor
Agency Producer — Graeme Light
Editor — James Rosen, Final Cut
Post-production — MPC
Audio post-production — Wave

The trail is based around the concept of 'Stadium UK' — bringing the nation together in a huge Olympic Stadium to enjoy the BBC's comprehensive coverage of the London 2012 Games. Designed to be used across all the BBC's television, radio and digital Olympic content, it features the specially commissioned music First Steps by Elbow.

BBC comes under fire recently for their animated ad promoting the 2012 Olympics for copying the Lloyds TSB ad. Ironically both promotional spots were created by the ad agency Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe Y&R. The BBC’s trailer features the UK as a huge stadium with athletes preparing and competing for the Games which start on July 27.

Lloyds TSB’s ‘For the Journey’ adverts are known for their animated characters and utopian landscapes set to the classical piece Eliza's Aria by Elena Kats-Chernin.

The BBC advert featured cartoon swimmers in lanes created by buoys cast out by a fisherman, a BMX rider on a cliff edge and track cyclists racing around quarries.

Here's our new London 2012 TV ad (above). The ad brings together some of the favourite characters from previous Lloyds TSB adverts and shows how we're bringing London 2012 closer to communities all across the UK.

And, the ad features a new version of Eliza Aria, the great piece of music that's become as synonymous with Lloyds TSB TV adverts as the familiar voice of Julie Walters.

BBC 2012 marketing head Louisa Fyans said: ‘Animation enabled us to deliver to this brief and helped us create something really special for the BBC's London 2012 campaign.’

It was seen by millions – as Gary Lineker and his cohorts pulled in a peak of 15.5 million, averaging 13 million for the game.

The advert — which uses the tagline ‘wherever you are, never miss a moment with the BBC’ — will be used in the title sequence for the BBC’s Olympics TV coverage.

A Rainey Kelly spokesman said: ‘It is the culmination of a lot of hard work and we are very excited to feel part of the inspiration that this summer will bring.’

Ryan Lochte swims his way to the 2012 Olympic Games in this new commercial ad for AT&T.

"Warming Up" is AT&,T's Olympic brand/anthem commercial featuring Ryan Lochte, epically swimming across the Atlantic as a metaphor for all that Team USA athletes have to do to get to the Olympic Games. Throughout his journey, we see him overcoming one obstacle after another until he finally swims ashore in London.

Credits:
Ad Agency: BBDO in New York
Directed by Psyop

To celebrate the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay and your Future Flames, Coca-Cola brought the UK's hottest music artists to 66 nights of celebration around the UK.

Take a look back at the most memorable moments of the relay, as we follow the Olympic Flame on its journey from Land's End, all around the country and back to London in preparation of the Finale in Hyde Park and the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Featuring Dizzee Rascal, Eliza Doolittle, Friendly Fires, The Wanted, You Me At Six, Emeli Sandé, Labrinth, Rizzle Kicks, The Wombats and Wretch 32. via: YouTube

Also celebrating this Olympics Coca-Cola recently unveiled the "BeatBox" building, designed by architects Asif Khan and Pernilla Ohrstedt which will promote Coke's "Move To The Beat" ad campaign. The building was built with 230 bolsters that respond to touch with sound, the structure becomes one giant instrument.

Mark Ronson's "Move to the Beat" anthem — which has sounds like the squeaking of sports shoes, heartbeats, or an arrow striking a target — is the centerpiece of the building: visitors that touch the structure at different parts will essentially be remixing the track. Visitors can also climb up the exterior, and upon reaching the roof, will see the view of Olympic Park. Within the structure are different light and sound installations as well, designed by Jason Bruges Studio in Hackney. via: creativity-online

2012 Olympic Games were the subject of photography for a new Vogue (US version).

Photo by Annie Leibovitz

Just as the world finished watching the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, Procter & Gamble and Gillette staged an unforgettable event to wish Team USA a great start to The Olympics. The event was a spectacle of light and water featuring 60-foot holograms of Team USA athletes Tyson Gay launching off the blocks and Ryan Lochte diving into historic Boston Harbor. Set to the music of M83 "Steve McQueen", the event officially launched Gillette's global 'Get Started' campaign.

Part science, part nature and part digital art, Gillette created a series of projected light displays on buildings throughout Boston culminating in a massive water show. The event used half a dozen projectors to display video images of Ryan Lochte and Tyson Gay in action on two massive screens of particulate water vapor sprayed above the surface of the water adjacent to Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art.

I Love Coca-Cola!

Coca-Cola as sponsor of the Olympic games 2012 in London shows its passion about the Olympic spirit in a typical Coca-Cola way of style: within a strong, simple and colourful symbolic Coca-Cola integrates its brand icon "the logo" as the sporty challenge – in every poster in a new way.

Geo: Germany;
Category: Non-alcoholic drinks;
Agency: McCann Erickson;
Brand: Coca-Cola;
Advertising Agency: McCann, Germany/McCann, Geneva, Switzerland;
Creative Director/Copywriter: Bill Biancoli;
Art Directors: Birol Bayraktar, Michael Jacob, Florian Fischkal;
Illustrator: Yue-Shin Lin;
Account Manager: Christiane Hahn.

Adidas tells Great Britain, it's time to take the stage with adidas at the London 2012 Olympic Games with this new advert created by Sid Lee.

Credits:
Agency:Sid Lee
Client:Adidas
Production Company: Jimmy Lee

The history of the horse is the history of civilisation itself. The horse has had a revolutionary impact on ancient civilisations and this major exhibition explores the influence of horses in Middle Eastern history, from their domestication around 3,500 BC to the present day. Britain’s long equestrian tradition is examined from the introduction of the Arabian breed in the 18th century to present day sporting events such as Royal Ascot and the Olympic Games.

The domestication of the horse more than 5,000 years ago dramatically changed human history. Domestication is thought to have first happened on the steppes of South Russia with horses being introduced into the Middle East around 2,300BC. Before this introduction, asses and donkeys were used for transport, predominantly as harness animals pulling cumbersome but technologically advanced vehicles — as seen on objects found at the Royal Cemetery of Ur -but gradually horses became the means of faster transportation for these early societies.

The exhibition includes one of the earliest known depictions of a horse and rider: a terracotta mould found in Mesopotamia (Iraq) dating to around 2,000 – 1,800 BC. Horses became a vital component in warfare and hunting, as reflected in the art of ancient Assyria, where elaborate and ornate horse trappings and ornaments were developed reflecting the prestige and status of horse, charioteer and rider.

Riding became an essential part of society during the Achaemenid period (5th -4th century BC), a cylinder seal of Darius, dating to 522 – 486 BC shows the king hunting lions in a chariot, and famously, the Achaemenid’s introduced ‘post horses’ which were used to deliver messages on the royal road. The horsemen of the Parthian Empire (3rd century BC – 3rd century AD) were celebrated by Roman authors for the ‘Parthian shot’, in which an apparently retreating rider would shoot arrows backwards whilst on horseback. The renown of Parthian horsemen is shown in their representation on terracotta plaques and bronze belt buckles in the British Museum collection.

Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Mughal miniature paintings, ceramics and manuscripts all attest to the growing importance of the horse in the Islamic world from the 7th century AD. Exquisite Mughal miniatures depict princes with their valued Middle Eastern steeds, horses that were famed for their speed and spirit. A magnificent Furusiyya manuscript, dating to the 14th century AD, on loan from the British Library, is a beautifully illustrated manual of horsemanship, including information on proper care for the horse, advanced riding techniques, expert weapon handling, manoeuvres and elaborate parade formations.

The horse has a long history on the Arabian Peninsula, becoming an important cultural phenomenon and a noted part of the traditional Bedouin way of life. The ‘Arabian horse’ was developed through selective breeding, and with features including a distinctive head profile and high tail carriage, the Arabian is one of the most familiar horse breeds in the world. The exhibition includes ‘Gigapan’ panorama photography of rock art which show horses in scenes of various dates from sites in Saudi Arabia, as well as loans of objects from Qaryat al-Fau which include wall paintings and figurines.

The importance of fine horses in the Middle East is explored through the fascinating Abbas Pasha manuscript (dating to the 19th century and on loan from the King Abdulaziz Public Library, Riadyh). This document is the primary source of information about the lineage of the purebred Arabian horses acquired by Abbas Pasha (the viceroy of Egypt) throughout the Middle East.

The story of the Arabian breed of horse is examined in parallel to that of Wilfrid Scawan Blunt (1840-1922), poet and agitator, and Lady Anne Blunt (1837-1917), the granddaughter of Lord Byron. The Blunts travelled widely in the Middle East and established a celebrated stud for purebred Arabians, which was crucial for the survival of the Arabian breed, at Crabbet Park in Sussex, and another outside Cairo in Egypt.

Horses, including Arabians had long been imported from the Middle East to Britain, but from the 17th century, three Arabian stallions in particular were introduced, which, bred with native mares, produced the Thoroughbred breed, now the foundation of modern racing; some 95% of all modern Thoroughbreds are descended from these three horses. Paintings and prints, trophies and memorabilia explore their remarkable success and their influence on sport and society, from early race meetings through to modern equestrian events.

Faissal Ibn Abdullah Ibn Muhammad Al-Saud, Minister of Education and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Saudi Equestrian Fund said "It is well known that the horse has played a crucial role in the development of civilization, and that a close bond exists between horses and men. I am very pleased that it has been possible to support this exhibition in London which gives us an opportunity to look at different aspects of the history of the Arabian horse and the context from which it emerged."

The exhibition runs until 30 September 2012 and is part of the celebrations for the Diamond Jubilee.

Admission is free.

Source: The British Museum [June 02, 2012]

Virgin Media has unveiled a new brand identity incorporating the Union Jack flag, as it seeks to match what it sees as a national mood of patriotism coming in 2012.

It has created a new logo with the blue, white and red flag, combined with the original red infinity symbol Virgin logo.
The logo, created by Start JudgeGill, will be unveiled in a new TV ad this week promoting the company's next-generation TV service TiVo.

Jeff Dodds, executive director of brand and marketing communications, said: "At Virgin Media, we're extremely proud of our British heritage and wanted to find a way to symbolically remind people about all the fantastic things about our nation.

"With Britain celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and hosting the Olympic Games next year, we believe there is no better time to show our pride and excitement about what it means to be British."
via: marketingmagazine.co.uk

To tie in with the Olympic Games, WCRS has assembled the Mini orchestra to perform a version of God Save The Queen using just Mini car horns by the London Philharmonic Orchestra. 75-second film features the Orchestra members playing the horns of nine red, white and blue Mini London 2012 Special Editions conductor Gareth Newman and the London 2012 Limited Edition MINI's unique tribute to Team GB.

Credits:
Ad Agency: WCRS
Created by David Dearlove and Richard Nott. Directed by Kjetil Njoten via Betsy Works.

F**k This I’m Off To Greece

A Campaign by the Ad Agency Mother to Support the Original Home of The Olympics

As The Games draw to a close, creative agency Mother launches a campaign to shift the nation’s Olympic enthusiasm to the plight of Greece – the troubled birthplace of The Olympics.

The social media based campaign entitled F**k This I’m Off To Greece is live now and is rallying for Britons to support Greece by buying specially designed t-shirts, and donating directly to the healthcare charity Doctors of the World, through the dedicated Facebook page. All users who simply like the page are in a bid with the chance of winning a two thousand pound holiday to Greece.

“We’re seeing a country [Greece] where pensioners are forced to rummage around for food in dustbins, with old men shooting themselves due to the economic meltdown there, and so we wanted to do something about it. The London Olympics has caused massive excitement here, and now The Games are almost over we want to get Brits to give something back to the forgotten mother of The Olympics” says Jim Bletsas, Design Director at Mother.

The charity Doctors of the World has a free healthcare drop-in clinic in Perama, Greece. Originally set up to help struggling migrants access healthcare, it is now seeing over 80% of Greek people, as the country’s health system is in collapse.

Nikitas Kanakis, President of Doctors of the World Green, said: “The numbers are shocking – around 20 percent of Greeks are living a desperate existence. The number of Greeks seeking survival at community kitchens and medical centres has quadrupled, the number of homeless and those in temporary shelter has tripled. We are talking about the start of a humanitarian crisis.”

Donations to the charity can be made online to a Just Giving page and via sales of a specially designed t-shirt both of which can be accessed through the campaign’s F**k This I’m Off to Greece Facebook page. The campaign is being run as non-profit and all the proceeds are going directly to Doctors of the World in Greece.

The Facebook page is live now: http://www.facebook.com/ftiotg and the activity will run online now until the end of the Paralympics in September.

Great Britain's sprinter Marlon Devonish stars in the TV advert for GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) entitled "Drugs". The ad created by TBWA, London really gets inside Marlon's body, GSK is providing anti-doping science for London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Credits:
Agency: TBWA London
Client: GSK
ECD: Dede Laurentino
CD/Writer: Fabio Abram
CD/AD: Braulio Kuwabara
Chief Strategy Officer: Zaid Al-Zaidy
Strategic Planner: Jenna Hoyle
Head of Broadcast: Jason Ayers
Producer: Natalie Spooner
Producer: Gill Oglethorpe
Producer: Nicholas Kurs
Production Manager: Melanie McGee
Prod. Co.: Outsider
Director: Scott Lyon
Producer: Zeno Campbell-Salmon
Editor: Art Jones
Post Prod: Electric Theatre
Post Producer: Lee Pavey
Flame Artist: Giles Cheetham
Sound: Factory Studios
Sound Engineer: Anthony Moore

Excited about the Olympics yet? Thanks to Talk Sport Magazine here's a five minute video montage of the some the sexiest and most attractive women athletes competing at the games. Just a few of the female athletes featured include: Nastia Liukin, gymnastics; Jessica Ennis, heptathlon; Federica Pellegrini, swimming; Daniela Hantuchova, tennis; Hope Solo, football; Stephanie Rice, swimming; Francesca Piccinini, Volleyball; Laure Manaudou, swimming; Jaqueline Carvalho, volleyball; Logan Tom, volleyball; Kim Glass, Volleyball; Jenna Randall, synchronized swimming; and Nicole Reinhardt, canoe sprint.

Ladies not to worry, I found a little something for you too, below is the Great Britain Olympic Men's Field Hockey Team, click to enjoy a full screen.