Chicago Students Creatively Try to Bring Home the Bid
December 14, 2006
Chicago 2016 Newswire -
As part of their annual advertising award show
sponsored by the Chicago Creative Club, the City’s premier creativity
in advertising organization, Jon Wyville of Young & Rubicam and
Kevin Lynch from Zig, were charged with choosing the assignment for the
show's student competition. Their idea was to have the students help
convince the International Olympic Committee that Chicago should be
selected as the host for the 2016 Summer Olympics. It could be done in
the form of an ad, a billboard, a book, a video, a website, an event, a
guerilla campaign... you name it. Anything that helped explain to an
international audience why Chicago would be the natural choice to host
the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Kevin says, "We chose Chicago's 2016 Summer Olympic bid as a ‘client’
because it would allow students to show 1) an understanding of the
city; 2) an ability to think beyond traditional advertising forms.
After all, this isn't a bottle of detergent we're selling. It's a once
in a lifetime opportunity to give Chicago the stage it so richly
deserves. It's a big challenge that requires big thinking."
Asked how he thought the students did, he responded, “We believe the
students met the challenge well.” Here are the entries. We will let you
judge for yourself.
2nd Quarter Students
Challenge: Conceive a better idea for the opening/closing ceremonies venue.
Solution: Use the Chicago River and create a giant floating stadium
with the Opening and Closing Ceremonies held in front of the Wrigley
Building.
"Make giant pontoons that span the river from Franklin to Michigan. Build grandstands on the bridges. Build luxury boxes on the lower level riverwalk. Invite millions of spectators to watch from Wacker Drive and the neighboring buildings. The athletes will march from Franklin to Wabash with millions watching and cheering. The ceremonies will be in front of the Wrigley Building."
4th Quarter Students
Challenge: Raise awareness of Chicago’s bid efforts locally and internationally.
Solution: Redesign the Chicago flag.
Chicagoans all know the city flag consists of two blue horizontal
stripes on a field of white. Between the two blue stripes are four red,
six-pointed stars arranged in a horizontal row.
The three white stripes of the flag represent, from top to bottom, the
north, west and south sides of the city. The top blue stripe represents
Lake Michigan and the north branch of the Chicago River. The bottom
blue stripe represents the south branch of the Chicago River and the
Grand Canal.
The four red stars represent seminal moments in Chicago’s history- the
Fort Dearborn Massacre (1812), the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the
World’s Columbian Exposition (1893) and the World’s Fair of 1933.
The 4th Quarter Students suggested we redesign the flag to add a fifth
star, representing the XXXI Olympic Games (2016). They believe the
fifth star is warranted given the magnitude of the event and its impact
on Chicago. The five stars would also be an homage to the Olympic 5
ring symbol.
1st Quarter Students
Challenge: Create buzz and support in Chicago to host the Olympics.
Solution: Using the call to action tag “Bring It”, this team created a
broad array of place based options that Chicagoans would encounter to
get them excited about hosting the Olympics.
© 2006, Chicago 2016