London 2012 Unveils Official Posters

Today the London Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG) unveiled the official posters for London 2012, including six Olympic and six Paralympic designs.

Check out the full press release (including artist bios) and links to the designs!
Building on an Olympic arts tradition spanning several decades, the LOCOG-commissioned works by 12 leading U.K. artists highlight competition and athletic themes of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Looking at the collection, I am enthusiastically drawn to the work titled "Big Ben 2012" by Sarah Morris. The poster features a modernized view of the Clock Tower in a framework reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright windows. Beautiful! I want this poster in my apartment!

Another poster titled "Divers" -- created by Anthea Hamilton -- is also appealing with vivid color and silhouetted legs and Olympic rings in white.

The third and poster of note, however, sort of made me think, "Huh?!"

The work titled "Swimming" by Howard Hodgkin is described in LOCOG press materials with the following note: "The fluidity of the brushstrokes perfectly captures the movement of water and the sensation of swimming."

Not so much.

For this blogger, it sort of captures the movement of child's fingers dipped in finger paint.

Though to Hodgkin's credit, the painting did also remind me of a favorite R.E.M. song titled "Night Swimming" so I guess the poster is OK, just not for my walls.

Next!

Like Athens 2004's terrible selection of official posters, the rest of the London 2012 official poster series leave a bit to be desired. For instance, the illustration of two birds appearing under an inspiring message was to me, well, inspiring, yet better suited for the cartoon collections of The New Yorker magazine.

The other workz juzt make me zort of **yawn** zleepy ... ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzz ...

I guess my Olympic official poster tastes are influenced by the dazzling array of memorable official works created for LA84, Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996. LA's official works, including artists Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Rauschenberg and Martin Puryear, are just tough to beat. Javier Mariscal's 1992 designs, and the 1996 posters by Howard Finster and James Rizzi, stand out as exceptional.

Other favorites Olympic poster works include designs by Jacob Lawrence, David Hockney, Andy Warhol and (official or not) the works of Dallas artist Bart Forbes are personal favorites (his works for several U.S. Postal Service stamps are tops in my book).

I'm sure the London 2012 official posters will be quite popular in spite of my remarks. Would love to hear which London 2012 Olympic posters are most liked -- or disliked -- by readers of this blog, and I will send an official 1996 Atlanta Olympic Opening Ceremony postcard of Muhammad Ali lighting the Olympic cauldron to the person(s) who post the most colorful comment(s) during the next three days.

Disclosures: LOCOG and the IPC/Paralympics are clients of Edelman, the agency where I work. Photo credits: London 2012/LOCOG website.

Where Will You Be?

A colleague today forwarded a wonderful attachment to an e-mail: The London 2012 Olympic ticketing/event schedule.

Scanning the contents and the one-page version, I can tell you the future. Well, at least where I aspire to be on the following dates (this list will certainly evolve over time):

• 27 July 2012 -- Opening Ceremony at Olympic Stadium (duh!)
• 4 August 2012 -- Women's Tennis Final at Wimbledon, Centre Court
• 8 August 2012 -- Women's Beach Volleyball Final at Horse Guards Parade (for an Olympic attendance three-peat with my good friend, Brian; we attended in Athens and Beijing)
• 9 August 2012 -- Women's Football Final at Wembley Stadium
• 12 August 2012 -- Closing Ceremony at Olympic Stadium

The only disappointment to the schedule: Men's marathon does not conclude at the Olympic Stadium as it did in Beijing's Bird's Nest stadium, where I stowed away ALL DAY in the BBC press seats and then evaded Chinese security sweeps (once, twice, three times, including bomb-sniffing K-9 units) to view the Closing Ceremony at no charge. Therefore, no option to repeat stowing away trick.

Experience-wise, Beijing and Vancouver set very high standards for Olympic awesomeness. London should provide an array of adventures.

Where will I see you in London?

Ticketing logo via London 2012

Fitness Ambassadors Bound For London 2012

With today's two-year countdown to London 2012, my inbox contained a handful of Olympic announcements, including one tied to my Edelman colleagues working with 24 Hour Fitness.

According to a U.S. Olympic Committee press release, the San Ramon, Calif.-based company is creating a U.S. Team High Performance Training Center (HPTC) in London, which will be staffed by "Fitness Ambassadors" (a.k.a. 24 Hour Fitness team members from their 420 locations).

The 2012 HPTC is now under construction at the Docklands Campus of the University of East London.

National Governing Bodies (NGBs) -- the national federations for Olympic sports in the U.S. -- also benefit from the 24 Hour Fitness NGB Incentive Program and Elite Membership program, according to the press release.

Turn The Beat Around

According to the BBC, the London Cultural Olympiad team today launched a search for new music for the 2012 Olympic Games.

The competition, open to U.K. composers, is named New Music 20 x 12, with an October 1 deadline for submissions.

This week marks the deadline to submit votes in the Olympic blog survey of which U.K. music acts should perform at the London Olympic opening ceremony (drag your mouse to the right side of the screen to cast your ballots). Paul McCartney is the clear favorite so far.