An evaluation of the image impact of the 2012 Olympic Games: domestic pre-Games perception

Guillaume Bodet (4250596)

James Andrew Kenyon (1259550)

English

Loughborough University Institutional Repository

RESEARCH POSTER PRESENTATION DESIGN © 2011www.PosterPresentations.com4. Results1. IntroductionAn evaluation of the image impact of the 2012 Olympic Games: Domestic pre-Games perceptionsJames A. Kenyon and Guillaume S. P. BodetCentre for Olympic Studies and Research / Institute of Sport and Leisure Policy Loughborough University, UKWhile economic benefits and worldwide media exposure often provide theprime motives for place’s wanting to host major sporting events, theopportunity to improve image, both at home and around the globe, hasprovided increasing motivation in recent years for countries and cities lookingto differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive global market (Rein& Shields, 2007). The reasoning here is very much the same as that of thecommercial sponsors of major sporting events, who aim to draw upon theimage of the events they sponsor to improve the perceptions and opinionsthat exist of them and their products. Research suggests that this achieved(for place and products) through an ‘image-transfer process’ (Gwinner, 1997;Gwinner & Eaton, 1999) whereby image elements from one entity, which caneither be positive, neutral or negative, transfer onto another (figure 1).Although London is already considered tobe a leading and popular global city witha strong image or place ‘brand’ (e.g.2011 Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands Index),a key objective for those involved in thedevelopment and delivery of the 2012Olympics is to manage and improveLondon’s image, and to address anypotential negative image formation thatmay occur (DCMS, 2008). Improving aplace’s image, however, especially onehosting an Olympics, is not astraightforward undertaking: organisation,security, infrastructure and transport, forexample, can negatively affect how anOlympic Games and thus its host areperceived.2. Research AimPlace EventCo-branding processThe aim of this study, underpinned bytheoretical-methodological socialrepresentation theory (Moscovici, 1984), isto evaluate the image impact of hostingthe 2012 Olympics, pre and post Games,for the city of London. It will seek topresent and compare the imagesgenerated by UK citizens concerningLondon as a city (i.e. its place brand), theOlympics’ as a mega-event (i.e. brand‘Olympic’) and the 2012 Games as a one-off spectacle, and then determinewhether there is any transfer of imageelements between these entities beforeand after the 2012 Olympics.010203040506070%Table 1 – Social representation (image) of London0102030405060%Table 2 – Social representation (image) of the Olympics0510152025303540%Table 3 – Social representation (image) of London 2012Figure 1 – Image transfer process3. Methodology continued...5. DiscussionThis study is between-subjects, longitudinal in design and follows a criticalrealist-informed, abductive research strategy. It utilises a mixed-methodsquestionnaire as the data collection instrument and will involve repeatedapplications of the same questionnaire before and after the London 2012Olympic Games.UK citizens (n=610, age=28±13.5) completed a mixed-methods questionnaireone year to eight months prior to the Games. This was comprised of questionsmeasuring personal characteristics, demographic information, sportparticipation, national pride, and level…3. Methodology…of engagement in the Olympics (quantitative) and three randomised freeword-association tasks (qualitative) using London, the Olympics and 2012London Olympics as inductor terms; i.e., Please give the first 10 words thatcome to mind when you hear the term…’.Data analysis involved collating the responses of the free word-associationtasks into semantic word clusters, with one word (or phrase) representingeach theme – be that an object, emotion, an opinion, etc. Only words orphrases cited by 15% of participants were used to construct the coremeanings of each entity. Semantic word clusters were then used to constructthe image (social representation) of each entity (i.e. image of London, theOlympics, and the 2012 Games) (see Bodet & Lacassagne, 2012).The image of London might generally beconsidered to be quite positive. While themajority of the terms that make up thisimage might, on their own, beconsidered to be neutral and/ordescriptive – e.g. that it’s huge forexample – many of these elements relateto reasons for people to visit London:landmarks and tourist attractions,shopping, tourism, stage and football, forexample.London also presents some negativecharacteristics. It is interesting to notethough that the negative characteristicspresented here – busy, cost-expensiveand traffic/congestion – are probably notgoing to be improved by hosting the 2012Olympics, and may, in fact, beexacerbated by them. Indeed, busy andcost - expensive also make up the socialrepresentation of the 2012 Games,representing its only negative elements.For the Olympics, overall its socialrepresentation can be considered to berelatively positive, it contains only onenegative element: cost-expensive. It alsoreferences the types of things that makeit a unique event, including its [olympic]emblems – a semantic cluster whichcontains phrases such as Olympic flame,Olympic torch, Olympic rings, etc – andreference to its ceremonies,opening/closing, podiums, etc.For London 2012, again, it’s viewed in agenerally positive light. For example,excitement features as a significantcharacteristic of its image, which supportsthe view that the resident UK populationare positively anticipating the Games.Commercial aspects also features as asignificant element of London 2012’ssocial representation, although it doesn’tfeature in theimage of the Olympics. This suggests is that, in the long run, London 2012 maybe remembered for being a commercial event as much as a sporting one.6. ConclusionThe results presented here provide specific knowledge on how eachentity is perceived, and provide a good basis for longitudinal analysis.Further analysis, at the pre-Games stage, will involve re-examining thecategories, looking at the strength of connections between phrases,and segmentation based on relevant quantitative variables.(see Chalip, Green, & Hill, 2003; Xing & Chalip, 2006)

An evaluation of the image impact of the 2012 Olympic Games: domestic pre-Games perceptions

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An evaluation of the image impact of the 2012 Olympic Games: domestic pre-Games perceptions

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