London 2012 Olympics Case
Date: March 3, 2013
Re: London 2012 Olympic Games
Background
Paul Williamson and his team were responsible for developing the policies for pricing and distributing the tickets for the 2012 London Olympic Games. He along with team members Chris Townsend, the Commercial Director of the LOCOG and Joanna Manning-Cooper, Head of Public Relations and Media were actively engaged in the pricing strategy decision making. The tickets were set to go on sale starting in late 2010 which meant that Williamson had about 18 months to plan his pricing strategy. The Olympic Games are governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which is responsible for electing the Olympic host cities, setting guidelines for the host cities, managing copyrights, and trademarks as well as managing broadcast rights and international sponsorships. The management of the Games is left to the host city’s Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) which is responsible for ticketing, domestic sponsorships, and domestic licensing. As Williamson was considering his strategy, he kept two thoughts in mind; one from his boss Chris Townsend who said “Missing either our revenue or our attendance target is simply unacceptable.” The other comment came from Joanna Manning-Cooper who reminded him that “We are billing these as ‘Everybody’s Games,’ which means the majority of tickets have to be at prices the public can afford.” Williamson was caught between the two choices- should he make the prices high in order to maximize revenue, or should he price them low enough or the general public to fill the seats. There was 7.9 million tickets up for sale and the LOCOG estimated about 500,000 people per day that attend the Games with up to 800,000 people on busy days. According to the LOCOG, “It is estimated that roughly 30% of all the tickets would be purchased by Londoners, 25% by United Kingdom residence who live outside of London, 20% by the rest of Europe, and 25% by people in the rest of the world.
Re: London 2012 Olympic Games
Background
Paul Williamson and his team were responsible for developing the policies for pricing and distributing the tickets for the 2012 London Olympic Games. He along with team members Chris Townsend, the Commercial Director of the LOCOG and Joanna Manning-Cooper, Head of Public Relations and Media were actively engaged in the pricing strategy decision making. The tickets were set to go on sale starting in late 2010 which meant that Williamson had about 18 months to plan his pricing strategy. The Olympic Games are governed by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) which is responsible for electing the Olympic host cities, setting guidelines for the host cities, managing copyrights, and trademarks as well as managing broadcast rights and international sponsorships. The management of the Games is left to the host city’s Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (OCOG) which is responsible for ticketing, domestic sponsorships, and domestic licensing. As Williamson was considering his strategy, he kept two thoughts in mind; one from his boss Chris Townsend who said “Missing either our revenue or our attendance target is simply unacceptable.” The other comment came from Joanna Manning-Cooper who reminded him that “We are billing these as ‘Everybody’s Games,’ which means the majority of tickets have to be at prices the public can afford.” Williamson was caught between the two choices- should he make the prices high in order to maximize revenue, or should he price them low enough or the general public to fill the seats. There was 7.9 million tickets up for sale and the LOCOG estimated about 500,000 people per day that attend the Games with up to 800,000 people on busy days. According to the LOCOG, “It is estimated that roughly 30% of all the tickets would be purchased by Londoners, 25% by United Kingdom residence who live outside of London, 20% by the rest of Europe, and 25% by people in the rest of the world.