LA28, Archer Announce Olympic Flights of Fancy

As LA28 continues its march to the next summer Olympics, the organization recently enjoyed a trio of headline news items tethered to flags, flat beds and flights of fancy.

The first and biggest news: On May 15, California-based Archer, an emerging avionics enterprise, signed on as LA28's official air taxi provider, a new official supporter category for a summer Games. 

Four days later, New York-based Saatva emerged as the official mattress brand to literally support athletes by providing "mattresses, linens and pillows ... ensuring they get the restorative sleep critical to recovery and overall wellbeing," according to their release**. 

And as of May 20, the NFL cleared players for flag football's XXXIVth Olympiad debut. 

About those air taxis ... according to the announcement, which painted some broad strokes, collaborators "will look to integrate Archer's Midnight eVTOL aircraft across the LA28 Games in a variety of ways, such as transporting VIPs, fans and stakeholders, while electrifying vertiport [takeoff/landing] hubs for key venues and providing support for emergency services and security."

Inspired to learn more, brief research yielded a July 2024 article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which reported from a suburban airport near Archer's plant being built in Covington, Ga. According to the article and other sources, eVTOL is the acronym for electric vertical takeoff and landing (like heliports or helipads, the new aircraft destinations are named vertiports). Sidebar: Bell Textron provided air support at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, per this trade article of that era.  

Archer's CEO elevated their news with an appearance on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon," which filled in a few more blanks. 

For each answer, however, additional questions emerged, and to date the abundance of launch news coverage did not answer the following:

Q: At Olympic venues, where specifically will the vertiports be located?

Partial A: An August press release gets more in the weeds about a "taxi network" but I'm wondering how far of a walk or golf cart ride from landing to getting one's Olympic ticket scanned at LA Coliseum since a glance at Google Maps reveals a dearth of open real estate for a vertiport installation. 

From LA Coliseum the nearest helipad is a mile north

Q: What capacity is planned for passengers? 

Partial A: Crunching some numbers, even if there is room to simultaneously land 10 eVTOLs at one vertiport, with up to four passengers landing every 15 minutes, that's only 160 passengers transported per hour for a venue with, say, 80,000 to 100,000 seats. 

(10 aircraft x 4 passengers x 4 landings per hour = 160 individuals per hour arriving at venues per hour ... or 320 in the two hours prior to a ticketed event start time).

Q: From what pool will they hire dozens to hundreds of air taxi pilots?

Q: How will LA28/Archer crack the code that eluded European competitors from an air taxi launch during Paris 2024? 

Q: How much will it cost per taxi fare (on top of, say, at $500 track & field ticket)?

Q: What exactly did they mean by the press release statement that the sponsorship includes "access to storytelling [on NBC's] Games coverage, including moments like the 2028 opening and closing ceremonies."?

According to Google Maps, SoFi Stadium has zero nearby helipads -- who pays? 

On this last question, my gut answer starts with "Oh, no -- please don't deliver the torch in an eVTOL!" 

Even if the electric aircraft are quieter than the helicopter used to deliver the LA84 Closing Ceremonies "UFO" or Queen Elizabeth's parachute from an AgustaWestland AW139 at London 2012's opening, any stunt that distracts from hero athletes seems abaft. 

I do wish for Archer to succeed in their delivery of the Games' first Olympic air taxi service. It's exciting to see their ambitious plans taking shape in LA and other major U.S. cities including Chicago. 

If given the chance, would you arrive at the Olympics via Midnight eVTOL? Let me know your answers in the comments!

Image credits: LA28/Archer, Google Maps, Saatva.com, Ebay via WorthPoint.

**Snarky two cents: Saatva's press team wins the gold (err, tin) medal for hyperbole, using "proud" not once but pridefully thrice in their press release lede. Clearly, they missed the articles by Adweek and Trust Insights in 2024 and 2019, respectively, penned by authors admonishing publicists to avoid overused keywords. To their credit, however, they weren't thrilled but the USOPP CEO was, according to his PR-penned quote. Eyeroll. 

***Bonus snark: Saatva also may have set a world record for the longest press release lede paragraph, tossing out AP Style simplicity for an astounding seven lines of copy.

Learning and Sharing Some Olympic Intel

About a week ago, the kind of "you've arrived" e-mail about which bloggers dream dropped in as a surprise inbox missive.

The P.R. firm (specifically, a public relations peer met on the Road to Rio last year) wrote to extend an official invitation to an Olympic press conference hosted by "Brand X" (embargoed) and the International Olympic Committee.

After sharing my enthusiastic reply ("Ummmmm, twist my arm!") and a bit more conversation on specifics, I found myself booking my first all expenses paid trip to anywhere (in this case, New York), arriving Tuesday night at the Omni Berkshire.

Part of this post (well, this sentence and most of what appears above it) was written at 3:45 a.m. as I could not sleep over the anticipated news on Wednesday.

Not long after my itinerary got locked and loaded, a handful of fellow Olympic-minded reporters and outlets started breaking the news and speculating on the reasons and timing.

However, it's now official, today in New York's 620 Loft & Garden venue, Intel CEO Brian Krzanich and IOC President Thomas Bach joined fellow Intel staff on stage and live from Oregon and Utah to announce Intel is the newest IOC TOP Sponsor. Intel's new worldwide Olympic sponsorship will run from 2017 to 2024 and commence in time for the Games of PyeongChang this winter.

The complete press room for the event is online. Here's one of several videos Intel released.

The ceremony included additional executives from Intel and The Olympic Channel (specifically, the network's CEO Yiannis Exarchos, a veteran of the Games since they reached his hometown in Athens 2004, I learned).

Olympian Kerri Walsh Jennings helped press a button at Intel's global headquarters to officially launch the sponsorship.

Back in New York with our media audience, Bach presented Krzanich with a 2018 Olympic torch and an invitation to join the upcoming torch relay.

"Through close collaboration with the Olympic family, we will accelerate the adoption of technology for the future of sports on the world's largest athletic stage," said Krzanich.

Paraphrasing Intel's press release, Intel's contributions to the Olympic Movement will include tech developments rolled out in sequence. Advancements include Intel's 5G platforms to be deployed during Korea's Games.

Intel drone light show technology will create new skyward images at Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Virtual Reality (VR), 3D and 360-degree content development is on deck, too (we tried out some VR headsets with live feed to Park City's ski jump training center and the views were amazing).

Here's another video with an aspiring Olympic snowboarder for Team USA.

On VR specifically, Krzanich and company explained there will be at least 16 live VR experiences from key competitions in PyeongChang.

Imagine the gold medal hockey game with a VR view from inside the net facing center ice, or 360 elements surrounding a luge athlete hurling toward the finish line. Intel's freeD sports technology (already in use with MLB and other network sports) is another emerging tech element demoed on site.

When I asked about the history of the Intel:IOC partnership, Krzanich responded that talks began during and after the most recent Consumer Electronics Show (CES) only a few months ago. If a look at the punch list for today's flawless announcement looked daunting, imagine the massive effort commencing to meet deadlines for February 2018.

I, for one, am really excited about this sponsorship. Some really smart and forward-thinking minds collaborated in a pressure cooker of time, and the potential this sponsorship brings to the Olympic Family, other sponsors, the broadcasters, media, athletes and, of course, fans will forever change the Games in positive ways. I am so appreciative to have enjoyed a front seat at the launch.

After the formal Q&A, I spoke with Bach and his communications handler about the history of technology innovations at the Games, bringing up that when Bach competed in 1976, live broadcasts and improving color coverage may have been the "hot new thing" and whether he ever imagined the potential for such a big tech announcement on his watch at the IOC.

"I think nobody could expect that the [technology] development would move so fast," said Bach. "If you see the potential [of Intel's] 5Gs is offering, and how fast it's coming, if you asked people three years ago if would have said it may take maybe another decade but here we are already and it is fascinating to see."

Thank you very much to Intel and their Olympic P.R. team for the opportunity and support in the form of providing travel and accommodations for the journey to their announcement.

Photos by Nicholas Wolaver

Pumped About New USOC Sponsor

With thanks to the USOC's communications team, this evening included a quick peek inside USA House for a press conference to announce BP will be a sponsor of the 2010 and 2012 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams, as well as the 2011 U.S. Pan American Team (the complete press release is available online).

The event took place in the smartly-dressed and conveniently-located (but closed to the public) glass tower across the street from a "rowdy with 'O Canada' singing" crowd at neighboring Irish House pavilion.

I was happy to learn that BP, among the world's largest energy companies, is on board for the current Games and upcoming London 2012 experience. According to the USOC's CMO Lisa Baird, as well as the BP executives in attendance, the BP and USOC negotiation was discussed prior to, but really took off when the 2016 Olympic host city, Rio de Janiero, was selected in Copenhagen in October.

It will be interesting to see how BP engages across the U.S. and compare it to their activation as a Tier One partner of London 2012 and a partner of the British Olympic Association.

Jolly good show!

UPS Delivers For London 2012

On the heels of the McDonald's Olympic sponsorship news (see previous post), today also marked the delivery of news that Atlanta-based UPS is the latest London 2012 Olympic sponsor.

(disclosure: UPS/UPS International is a client of Edelman, the P.R. firm where I work.)

More specifically, UPS is now London 2012's "5th Tier Two Supporter and 22nd domestic commercial sponsor overall."

A sampling of headlines from both sides of The Pond include the hometown Atlanta Journal-Constitution as well as Reuters London and Associated Press reports.

The UPS U.K. site also provides a bit of detail. Jolly good show!

Logo via UPS United Kingdom

With All This Talk About Motown ...

In the wake of Michael Jackson's death, the [usual for a celebrity of his calibre] cavalcade of tribute programming is flashing on the TV.

I've heard more about Motown and Detroit in the last 48 hours than perhaps the last year, save the near-daily news updates about the challenges faced by the U.S. auto industry.

With all this talk about Motown, and also thanks to a recent refresher course in online search techniques, this week I stumbled upon a handful of blogs mentioning a lengthy promotional video created in Detroit for the city's failed Olympic bid for the 1968 Summer Olympic Games.

I first heard about Detroit's Olympic aspirations while connecting on flights to and from Beijing last summer. Must admit, asked myself "for the summer Games, or winter?"

As pointed out by http://www.autoblog.com/ in their June 15 post, this summer Olympic bid film fails on several fronts. In addition to leaving out any mention of the Motown music industry, there are some surprising (albeit indicative of the era in which it was filmed) elements that were intended to showcase the city's diversity (unfortunately, shifted into an incorrect gear a time or two).

Another manner in which this film backfired: It is just plain boring!

C'mon! Even President Kennedy (around the 15 minute mark in the film) looks bored out of his mind reading a prepared statement to the voting members at the IOC Session. His gruff closing "thank you" is perhaps telling of where the bid fit in his list of priorities.

I expect members of the International Olympic Committee selection team for 1968 kept copies of this film on the ready in case of acute insomnia. The narration does not at all convey whatever "excitement" the city had for hosting the Games. Even newsreels of earlier times, whether true or fictional, had more pep. I'm anxious to find a copy of Mexico City's Olympic bid film for a comparison.

Fortunately, in spite of losing to Mexico's capital for the 1968 Olympic duties, some of Detroit's hometown auto brands did go on to sponsor the Olympic Movement in gigantic ways. I still remember spotting the auto industry Olympic ads during the 1980s.

During the summer of 1989, while volunteering for the U.S. Olympic Festival coming to Oklahoma City, I was part of a team of 100 or so drivers who created an Olympic photo opp involving 100 new cars from the General Motors plant in OKC (one of many P.R. moves learned in my pre-public relations career days). We parked 100 cars -- each clad with "OLYMPIC" Oklahoma license plates -- in the car plant's parking lot to arrange an "OK89" logo visible from local news helicopters.

GM also sponsored the Olympics (as do other import car brands) throughout the last several years, until they nixed global sponsorship (again, back to http://www.autoblog.com/).

Except by living vicariously through Michael Moore's great documentary films (new release on Oct. 2, the same day of the IOC vote for 2016), KISS songs (which reminds me, check out the REAL "Rock City," a former Edelman client of mine, here), Eminem's big screen debut (yo!), a popular Harrison Ford murder mystery film, and aforementioned Michael Jackson videos, I've only experienced Detroit via the city's modern airport -- there's no better spot for a pre-flight margarita than Detroit's vast international terminal (though the south of the border restaurant in LAX's Tom Bradley International Terminal gives DTW a run for it's money). I do hope to explore Detroit's architecture and cultural hubs -- some mentioned in the Olympic bid film -- and visit Detroit in the future.

Would like to think Detroit's non-selection as the first Great Lakes candidate will only contribute to Chicago's 2016 Olympic bid success. Fortunately, the Chicago 2016 Olympic bid videos feature a bit more excitement and drive (as does President Obama's pitch video for the bid)!

(photo cropped from image similar to one at http://olympianartifacts.com/ and via pages of "The Perlow Guide to Olympic Bid Pins")