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Goal!

Sporting mega-events and media mix to create

destination branding

ABSTRACT

In a global and increasingly competitive environment, branding is a crucial element of destination marketing strategies that differentiates a location from others and further enhances tourism. Sporting mega-events, such as the Olympic Games or the soccer World Cup, are one of the most useful destination branding tool, valued by marketers. Indeed, these global events boost high-media coverage, levels of tourism, prestige and economic development of the host destinations. This paper firstly examines the complex and significant role of destination branding in the development of cities. With the support of cultivation analysis, it further demonstrates that sporting mega-events are mixed with the media to change the audience’s perception of the host destination, create positive attitudes and enhance people’s intentions to visit the destination. Mass media are the key element in conveying a positive image of an event and destination around the world; however, they cannot be totally controlled. Indeed, the framing theory demonstrates that information can be selected, emphasized, or excluded by the media. Considering the ‘gigantism’ dimension of mega-events, crises are more likely to happen there and to reverberate in the global media. Thus, mega-events’ organization should be guided by high control, coherence and coordination of the diverse parties involved. Moreover, this paper emphasizes on the importance of a smart and coherent use of communication channels and on the full-integration of sporting mega-events in long-term integrated brand promotion campaigns. These arguments help to understand the cultivation process of consumers’ understanding of a destination through long-term destination branding.

Key words: Destination branding, Mega-events, Media, Cultivation, Framing, Crisis

Agnès Menuet

12874174

Master of communication

Teacher: Jeffrey Brand

Due to: Monday, 16th of April, 2007

Word count: 10 046

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Characterized as the greatest global TV event, the Olympic Games are the biggest tool ever

made for the promotion of destinations. Indeed, mega-events such as the Olympics or the

World Cup can be part of a powerful strategy to completely renew a destination image and

generate positive economic outcomes. This is true for locations such as Barcelona and

Sydney. Nearly four billion people, which means 60% of the world population, watched the

opening ceremony of the 2004 Athens Olympics (“Athens 2004 Games”, 2007).

As a result of significant worldwide media coverage, mega-events are a great opportunity to

positively influence the destination branding of a host country. However, media cannot be

totally controlled and can transform a local issue to an international crisis. Thus, marketers

and all stakeholders of the event-destination brand should work closely to design messages

that will provoke positive effects on consumers and enhance long-term destination branding

strategies.

This paper defines the concept of destination branding and emphasizes on its importance for

marketers to develop a competitive advantage and stand out from the crowd. It then defines

mega-events that contribute to create, change or reinforce the brand image of a host country,

with the support of the co-branding and schema theories. Sporting mega-event case studies

then show evidence that sport and cultural programs, as part of these events, provoke

interest and positive feelings toward the host place and further boost sport and cultural

tourism. According to cultivation theory, the media, and especially television, are the

centralized system of storytelling that consumers rely on in their everyday lives, to create

their vision of the world (Gerbner, 1998, p.177). Thus, it demonstrates that the media are the

key element to maximize mega-event broadcasting and implant destination brands into

consumers’ minds. However, media can frame reality, giving a specific vision of the events to

the audience. Moreover, they are able to convert a local problem into an international crisis.

They cannot be completely controlled and can have unintended effects on the audience.

Cultivation analysis helps to understand the transfer of media frames to consumers’

perceptions of events and destinations; the theory also demonstrates the impact of this

process on consumers’ interests and intentions to visit the destination. Thus, marketers and

all stakeholders of the event-destination brand should work together to design messages in

order to guide the media interpretation of events and consequently enhance positive effects

on consumer perceptions of the reality. Moreover, mega-events should be fully-integrated in

long-term branding strategies to cultivate consumer understanding of a destination.

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The destination branding concept

Considering that branding is at the centre of destination marketing strategies, the definition

and understanding of this concept is essential to appreciate its value and relevance to

marketers.

Nowadays, everything can be branded: from a product or service to a person or a place.

Many definitions of what a brand is have been given in previous papers but, since everything

can be branded more or less successfully, the definition of a successful brand by De

Chernatony & McDonald (as cited in Caldwell & Freire, 2004) is more relevant and

interesting to this paper. Indeed, they argue that “a successful brand is an identifiable

product, service, person or place augmented in such a way that the buyer or user perceives

relevant unique added values which match their needs more closely” (p.51). This definition

leads to the perception of successful branding as one of the most useful tools in marketing

strategies (Caldwell & Freire). It both identifies and differentiates the ‘product’ from the

competition. A brand is formed by different elements which contribute to its success. In

addition to its visual elements, the personality of a brand offers a exclusive combination of

functional attributes and representational values with which the consumer identifies

(Hankinson, 2001, p.129). In other words, each brand has functional and representational

assets. These assets, related to a destination brand, will be further developed in this paper.

Thus, branding is essential for marketers to conquer the preference and loyalty of

consumers.

Place branding is in fact the practice of applying brand strategy and other marketing

techniques to the economic, social, political and cultural development of cities, regions and

countries (Anholt as cited in Kerr, 2006, p.278). Indeed, advertising, direct mail and other

promotional tools are used to reach the following objectives: developing awareness and a

positive image of the destination (Keller, 2003, p.30). The product ‘sold’ by the destination is

the experience (city, region or country experience). According to Kerr (2003, p.30),

destination brands are used to convey the promise of a memorable travel experience

associated with the destination. For example, Ireland marketing strategy is to provide a high-

quality tourism experience by developing niche markets such as business, culture, rural,

education and sport tourism (Devine & Devine, 2005, p.10).

There is increased importance placed on branding for diverse reasons. First, as a result of

global environment changes, many places, such as industrial cities, have to adjust their

identity and reposition their image on new attributes (Virgo & De Chernatony, 2006, p.380).

Then, places need to have a strong, well-branded image to recover from negative publicity

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created by the mass media after an issue or crisis. Moreover, a competitive advantage can

be gained through destination branding if it addresses the needs of the consumers (cultural

or climatic interests for instance). Indeed, the development of transport and the emergence

of new markets lead to more selective and more demanding tourists, considering a large

variety of choice (Devine & Devine, 2005, p. 10). Thus, destination branding can be the key

to conspicuousness. Finally, major economic cities are more and more independent from

their nations and can finance mega-events with local and international funding. Thus, they

have a certain freedom regarding the branding that they should use to assert a strong and

attractive identity (Virgo & De Chernatony, p.381).

In order to effectively target consumers, destination marketers should understand their needs

and wants. Consumers have different needs and expectations toward destinations which

could be listed in Maslow’s pyramid as they would be for products or services (Maslow as

cited in Sevier, 2002). Thus, functional and representational dimensions drive the destination

brands (Caldwell & Freire, 2004, p.51). The functional dimension deals with utilitarian

aspects and concrete benefits of the destinations such as climate, activities and culture. The

representational or symbolic dimension concerns the attributes linked to the individual’s self-

expression and social satisfaction. In fact, people use destination to define their identities.

Certain destinations fit with certain consumers and people can assert their identity and

belong to a group by their choice of holidays. According to Crompton (as cited in Xing &

Chalip, 2006), a destination image is the sum of beliefs, ideas and impressions that a person

has about a destination (p.51). This image influences people’s choice to visit this destination

if it matches their needs and self-identity. As a matter of fact, some cities are more

fashionable than others and attract a certain kind of tourist (Caldwell & Freire, p.52). For

instance, Ibiza can be characterized as a fashionable destination for young people who want

to party hard. Cambridge is a branded city that appeals to a different and defined target that

of academics and intellectuals (Virgo & De Chernatony, 2006). Moreover, consumers buy

products linked to their trip, take photos and videos from the place they have been to and

show those to their peers. Thus, they use trips, through their ‘souvenirs’ to communicate

messages about themselves to other people. It is a way of self-expression. By showing these

objects, they communicate the destination’s brand image, showing their association with it,

influencing people to change their perception of the destination and enhancing their intention

to visit it.

The different factors which motivate consumers to travel can also be classified into four

categories (Kotze, 2006, p.284):

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- Physical reasons: directly related to physical needs, such as fitness and sport

- Cultural reasons: related to tradition, way of life and heritage such as sports

museums, halls of fame, and historical settings.

- Interpersonal reasons: related to the socialization noticed in sport resorts and world

games.

- Status and prestige reasons: people attracted by high-profile destinations, athletic

celebrities and significant sport events.

Branding a place is much more complex than branding a product or service. In fact,

destination marketers have less financial resources and less control than in the private sector

(Hankinson, 2001, p.136). In private companies, there is control, structure, hierarchy and

levels of expectations, whereas in the public sector, there is a lack of control over the city

experience. According to Hankinson, the city does not belong to anyone person but to

everybody. Everybody contributes to the image of the city: organizations, universities,

business organizations, hotels, tourist attractions. Virgo & De Chernatony (2006) claim that

two main factors explain the complexity of destination branding. Indeed, the lack of control

over the city experience, due to the diversity of stakeholders is significant as well as the

mutating nature of the city’s target segment. Indeed, the same place must be sold at the

same time for different reasons (culture, sport, weather) to different groups (investors,

residents, tourists, students) with different needs. Furthermore, advertising campaigns have

to adapt themselves to the diverse cultures being targeted. For instance, the messages

promoting “Brand Australia” to Asia conveyed “excitement, shopping, nightlife” whereas they

promoted “holidays, break from work, discovery of people and islands” to the United States

(Keller, 2003, p.30). This example clearly shows that different target markets have different

needs that should be addressed accordingly. Thus, considering the changing and diverse

nature of the markets in an increasingly competitive environment, places need to be

marketed and branded to stand out (Kerr, 2006).

Moreover, control over the management of the destination brand can be improved by using

the followings elements: brand architecture and brand portfolio. These are used in the private

sector and have to be considered when applying branding practices to places. The brand

architecture helps companies to organize, manage their brands and set up objectives while

the brand portfolio drives the strategies and tactics such as relevant placement, sponsorship

and events (Keer, 2006). Mega-events, as detailed later on, are a crucial component for

cities to enrich their portfolio. Considering that a destination brand is similar to a product

brand (‘tourism product’), architecture and portfolio of the destination brand should be taken

into consideration to have greater control and achieve success in the market.

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Moreover, uncontrolled political affairs which are broadcasted by the media, influence

people’s opinions about a destination. Indeed, according to cultivation analysis, mass media

and especially television are the central system of “storytelling” (Gerbner, 1998, p.177) which

consumers rely on. Television significantly influences their perception of the world and

events. It is thus difficult to create and control a coherent image of a place. However,

Caldwell & Freire (2004) argue that political affairs concerning a city or region usually will not

be diffused in the international media as in the case for countries. In fact, media have

different interests when they cover news about a country and news about a city or region.

They will be more interested to broadcast newsworthy catastrophe or political issues about

countries, whereas they will cover more cultural and sporting events in the cities.

This paper focuses more on city branding and mega-events which take place in cities.

However, since mega-events are large enough to affect whole economies and reverberate in

the global media, the image of the whole country of the host city is affected by these mega-

events. Kerr (2006) supported this statement by arguing that a location can associate its

brand with other locations, especially by linking its image to the national brand

characteristics.

According to Green (2005), city branding interconnects two complex subjects: branding as

the professional activity and as a factor for economic development. Indeed, branding creates

added value and regenerates the brand image of the city. It also aims at developing the

economy and improving the quality of lives and living.

Indeed, city branding involves a large variety of stakeholders and is viewed through different

perspectives. The urban planning perspective views a location as a set of spaces, offering a

different product or service to a defined target market, it focuses on manufacturing and

production facilities. The retail marketing perspective focuses on cultivating consumer

services by combining shopping malls, restaurants and city centres. Through this

perspective, the same location can be used, or ‘sold’, for more than one purpose. The

tourism marketing perspective views the location as the destination, a place that people visit.

Its target is tourists and the objective is to offer them the best city experience. Regarding this

last perspective, concerns are growing about the right balance between economic

development and environmental objectives. For instance, the development of transport

infrastructure can damage the environment and would be detrimental to the tourism product,

naturally and culturally (Hankinson, 2001). These different perspectives, targets and goals

create conflicts between stakeholders and provoke disputes about community priorities (Kerr,

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2006). This shared decision making process is one of the most problematic dimension of

place branding (Virgo & De Chernatony, 2006). The danger is that, without coordination and

coherence between the different stakeholders, the promise communicated to the public by

marketing communications will have difficulty being delivered. If the city experience differs

from the promise and does not satisfy the public, the destination brand image will

consequently suffer from a bad reputation (Hankinson).

Moreover, in the case of mega-events’ organization, perfect coordination and harmony have

to be established between the various stakeholders of the event.

Figure 1: The relationship of stakeholders to events (Allen, O’Toole, Harris & McDonnell,

2005, p.87)

`

This figure clearly shows the importance of all stakeholders involved in events as well as

their interactive and rewarding relationship to the event. Each of them has a crucial role,

which needs to be seriously considered in order to maximize the benefits of the event and

reduce issues.

Sporting Mega-events, enhancing destinations’ brand image

Mega–events are events that are large enough to affect whole economies and reverberate in

the global media. They boost high levels of tourism, media coverage, prestige or economic

development of the host destination (Roche, 2000). As seen previously, cultural and sporting

events held by cities are the main points of interest that are able to attract international media

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attention. Moreover, sporting mega-events such as the Olympics integrate cultural programs

into the games. So, this kind of event can be considered as both sporting and cultural. The

reasons communities host sporting mega-events are numerous and diverse (Supovitz, 2005,

see figure 4-2, p.89) but this paper focuses on the branding dimension of the event-

destination association and on its media coverage. Indeed, this essay argues that successful

destination branding is developed by the association of mega-events with the media.

The co-branding and schema theories explain how mega-events can be used to create,

change or reinforce the brand image of a host country. Indeed, city marketers integrate

events into their promotional campaigns to reinforce or change the destination image. The

co-branding theory explains why events are so popular and largely used in the marketing

mix. Indeed, according to the co-branding theory, the event image can be transferred to the

destination image when the two brands (event and destination) are associated. By pairing its

brand to an event, the organization expects to transfer aspects of the event to its own brand

(Brown, as cited in Xing & Chalip, 2006). Thus, the destination marketers should choose to

host events that match the destination’s existing image. According to Xing & Chalip (2006),

“the degree to which a brand’s evaluation is affected by the brand it is paired, depends on

the degree to which the two brands are well matched on relevant attributes” (p.50).

Moreover, schema theory explains how people link things together in their brains and create

schemas. Indeed, according to this theory, the information retained in memory is arranged as

a set of mental representations, also called schemas; each schema includes all the

information of things, events, circumstances and actions that we remembered from previous

experience (Cohen, Kiss & Le Voi, 1993, p.27). Cohen further explains that schemas help to

construe new information from the external world, by organizing memory, focusing attention,

interpreting experiences and codifying behaviours. Schema theory is a flexible and

interactive theory. Indeed, Graesser and Nakamura (as cited in Cohen et al., p.34) defined

the “schema-plus-tag model” that demonstrates that unusual and unexpected events are

remembered at a greater scale than usual actions of everyday life. Thus, mega-events,

which are atypical and usually spectacular, contribute to people’s representation of the event

and the destination. Indeed, the common schema, shared by the event-brand and

destination-brand facilitates the consolidating of the shared brand attributes into people’s

memories. However, the degree to which this process will be effective or not largely depends

of people’s past experiences, already stored in memory (Cohen et al., p.27). Schema theory

also emphasizes the fact that a degree of difference is needed between the two brands when

the marketing objective is to change the destination image. The theory argues that transfer of

brand image can occur not only when two brands share similar association sets but also

when consumers assimilate a node from one brand’s association set into the association set

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of the paired brand. Thus, when a destination wants to modify its brand image, an event can

be the opportunity to transfer the nodes of the event to the host destination (Xing & Chalip,

2006). Nevertheless, this last argument has to be considered carefully. The associated

nodes should not be completely different. Indeed, changing a destination image by

organizing a completely different event could be detrimental to the city’s image by confusing

the consumers. Xing & Chalip take the example of a relatively active sporting event which

would not match a leisurely destination, whereas a relatively leisurely sport would.

Conversely, a destination can affect the image of the event it hosts. Consequently, the event

owners should look for a location that matches the event’s image (Xing & Chalip, 2006).

Regarding mega-events, the bidding for the Olympics is influenced by many factors,

including the destination brand image that may have an impact on the Olympics’ image.

However, it is usually the nodes of the most familiar brand which are transferred to the less

familiar brand. Thus, in the case of mega-events, it is more likely that the destination will

beneficiate of the nodes of the popular events (Xing & Chalip). Indeed, according to the

interviewees of Smith’s study (2006), people remember a place through an event. They

unconsciously create a schema, which links the city and the sporting event in their memories

by watching the event in the host place or through the media.

The destination branding strategy of Australia has been clearly efficient during the last ten

years. This is mainly due to the co-branding of Australia (Sydney) and the Olympics. But

what has really strengthened Australia branding strategy was the association of this co-

branding with the launch of Brand Australia in 1995, two years after Sydney won the bid for

the 2000 Olympics. Moreover, a three-year advertising campaign from 1998 to 2001 fortified

the co-branding of the Sydney Olympics and linked Brand Australia with the Olympic Brand

(Nauright, 2004). Consequently, Australia became increasingly popular and generated

international tourism and business investments. As the article “Sydney, best city brand of the

world” (2007) comments, “Australia is regarded as a place that works - a good place to travel

to and do business with”.

To demonstrate that mega-events can positively change a destination’s image and enhance

positive perceptions, recent case studies are analysed and discussed in the following part.

The Olympics or other mega-events can be considered as a kind of shortcut to reach a

global and varied audience. Indeed, it can change the host destination image by attracting

high levels of worldwide media coverage and thus many international tourists (Hede, 2005).

Indeed, 3.9 billion people watched the Athens 2004 Olympics, a significant number which

had increased from earlier Olympics during the past decade (Chalip, as cited in Hede, 2005).

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Six billion people, from 190 countries, watched the 2002 Korea/Japan World Cup (Oh, 2002).

Sport is, consequently, an amazing tool to attract the interest of the audience. Moreover, the

opening and closing ceremonies which are watched by a significant worldwide audience

include an important amount of cultural presentations by the host country (Moragas,

Rivenburgh & Garcia, 1995). For instance, the three hours and ten minutes opening

ceremony of Barcelona 92 presented one hour and fourteen minutes of cultural

representations of the host destination.

Even if the Olympics are mainly about the sporting competition between all nations, the

media also cover the landscape, attractions, culture and people of the host destination

(Hede, 2005). Indeed, Rothenbuhler (1988) demonstrated that mass media, such as

television, transmit social values and cultural heritage to its audience. The presentation of

these positive images related to the host culture creates knowledge and positive feelings

toward the destination on a worldwide scale. According to Further (as cited in Hede, 2005),

television provides pleasant stimuli to the audiences through pleasant images and enjoyable

music and enhances their positive responses. Moreover, this kind of promotion, freely

broadcasted by the media, can be compared to the “feel-good ads” (O’Guinn, Allen &

Semenik, 2006, p.375). This concept works through emotional association between the

feelings toward the advertisements, images and the feelings toward the brand advertised. It

argues that if the consumers have positive feelings toward the images broadcasted on

television, they will like the brand associated with these images. This concept can be applied

to the broadcasting of the Olympics and the presentation of enjoyable images of the host

destination. Indeed, A.T. Kearney (2005) argues that mega-events are an chance to connect

emotionally with a worldwide audience, through the telecast of powerful imagery.

Considering the importance of positive representations of the destination, it is not surprising

to discover that in the case of the Barcelona 92’ Olympics, all negative elements such as

pollution, rubbish and poverty were left out of the image selection process (Moragas et al.,

1995). Moreover, the media that broadcasted these Olympics put the emphasis on good will,

tolerance, respect, peace and coexistence. The framing theory, as discussed later, explains

that frames shape the construction of social reality by inclusion, exclusion or highlighting of

the information (Hallahan, 1999). Thus, this positive exposure, framed by the media, tends to

lead to positive feelings toward the event and its host destination (Sakamoto, Murata & Eiwa,

1999).

According to Moragas et al. (1995), the presentation of the host culture at the Barcelona’92

Olympics was so successful that the New York Times appointed the city as the winner of the

Games. “The City won the Games […] we always knew something was happening on the

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Ramblas. Somebody was cooking calamaris […] Real people were dancing the Sardana, the

Sweet folk dance of Catalonia […] We could feel it. We could hear it.” (NY Times, 1992,

August 10, as cited in Moragas et al., p.3). This success is all the more significant when

considering the participation of two parties under political tensions and with different goals

that is, in Barcelona’s case, the Spanish government and the independent Catalan

government. Spain communicated on its values: diverse, democratic, modern and cultured.

On the other hand, Catalonia presented itself as independent, with a distinct political, cultural

and linguistic identity. Finally, Barcelona was imparted as a modern and cosmopolitan city

with a rich and “colourful” history as well as being technologically innovative and well-

organized through the organization of the Games. If debates arose between the different

stakeholders while organizing the event, Barcelona’s case study shows an integrated

presentation of all parties involved and a perfect control of the public relations since none of

the tensions and debates concerning the organization of the Olympics were publicly

communicated in the international media (Moragas et al., 1995). Moreover, the study of

Sakamoto, Murata & Eiwa (1999) of the Barcelona Olympics and its perception by Japanese

university students revealed that the greatest increase in positive feelings was generated by

Spain, as the host country. This significant increase was due to its massive publicity through

the media.

In addition to spectacular opening and closing ceremonies, the city of Barcelona was

broadcasted daily by cameras arranged around the city and these images were spread on a

worldwide scale (Moragas et al., 1995).The media enthusiastically characterized Barcelona

as “fervently Catalan” (p.24) because of the Catalan flags all around the city. They also

emphasized the “collective spirit of Catalonia” (p.24) by showing the linked hands of the

sardana circle dance. Politically, the media viewed the Spanish/Catalonia relationship as

positive due to a smiling Juan Carlos, the president of Spain, speaking Catalan. By

transmitting these values and cultural elements to the audience (Rothenbulher, 1988),

television influenced viewers’ perception of Spain by cultivating their understanding of the

destination. The rich visual and cultural themes of these Olympics and the balance of the

presentations of the different geopolitical parties including Spain, Catalonia and Barcelona,

enhanced the brand image of the host destination. Moreover, these Olympics became

Barcelona’s opportunity to stand out as a cultural city (Preuss, 2006).

The 2002 soccer World Cup has been described as a great sporting event as well as a

Japanese cultural event (Darling-Wolf, 2005). In the Japanese sporting history, many

Western sports have been imported to Japan, such as baseball and soccer, and have

contributed to the modernization and ‘westernisation’ of the country. The objective of Japan,

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by pairing its brand destination with this sporting mega-event, was to be part of the global

world and to build awareness about its culture through the telecast event. To reach these

objectives, many multiracial images were shown in the Japanese media and in the streets of

Tokyo. Soccer players of different ethnicities and nationalities were advertised on billboards,

drinks or cell phones. Japanese players were part of these images, representing their

country on the sport ground as well as in “the global capitalist world” (Darling-Wolf, p.186).

This World Cup promoted feelings of unity between the Japanese and the participants of the

other nations. However, a significant emphasis was put on the Japanese culture, integrated

into an international and intercultural environment. Symbols of the traditional Japanese

culture, such as the Mt Fuji and the colours of the Japanese flag, were promoted through

posters aiming at welcoming people, but also celebrating the potent global position of Japan.

Moreover, the Japanese animated graphic arts and the manga representation of Japanese

players portrayed a youth-oriented modern Japanese popular culture. The opening ceremony

introduced popular young Japanese celebrities. The members of the Japanese team were

featured as ‘cultural icons’ and participated in talk, game and comedy shows targeting both

Western and Japanese audiences. All these elements were part of the specific Japanese

setting in which the World Cup took place. To summarize, the broadcasting of the 2002

World Cup in the press and on television showed intercultural friendships and

multiculturalism through the promotional images of a peaceful gathering of Japanese and

international players. Television significantly cultivated the audience’s perception of these

social values and Japan, all around the world. However, if Japan wanted to assert its

presence in the global capitalist world, it also adapted Western imageries to the Japanese

cultural environment. For instance, advertisements featured Zinedine Zidane, the famous

French player, eating cup noodles (Darling-Wolf).

Thus, sporting mega-events such as the World Cup allow countries to develop their national

and cultural identities and to communicate them on a worldwide scale. Moreover, Darling-

Wolf (2005) insisted in her article on the importance of visual communication during the

event. Indeed, these visuals allowed the integration of Japanese elements in Western-

oriented images and events. Moreover, they could be understood by a diverse worldwide

audience. As seen previously for the Barcelona Olympics, rich and simple visual elements

are essential to efficiently communicate the host destination’s culture.

In fact, imagery has always been essential to the promotion of the Games. Indeed,

previously to today’s communication technologies (television, radio, the Internet), official

posters of the Games were the only way to promote the Games. They were translated in

diverse languages and sent to many countries, exposed in public areas such as hostels,

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restaurants, shops, travel agencies, transport firms, sporting clubs (“Olympic Games

Posters”, 2003). Since 1912 with the creation of the first official poster for the Stockholm

Olympic Games, host cities have been responsible for the advertising of the Olympics they

held, taking the opportunity to advertise the Games as well as the host destination, using

appealing messages and rich imagery.

The last 2006 World Cup, hosted by Germany, is an interesting case study to examine,

considering its contribution to the change of Germany’s image. Indeed, this World Cup is the

first sporting mega-event to be held by Germany since the reunification of the country in

1989. The old image of Germany, broadcasted in previous mega-events has never been

really positive. In 1936, the Olympics Games in Berlin were used to promote Nazism. In the

1974 soccer World Cup, Germany was still divided between East and West; the World Cup

highlighted this separation and only benefited to Western Germany. In 1972, the Munich

Olympics turned into a disaster when eleven Israeli athletes were killed by Palestinian

terrorists (Robertson, 2006). Moreover, the country past history is difficult to handle: two

world wars, Hitler, the Holocaust, and the Iron Curtain. Germans did not feel comfortable in

expressing their patriotism because of their history, scared of being stigmatised as Nazis.

The 2006 World Cup brought patriotism back and Germans took this opportunity to show a

new Germany, with a strong democracy, at the heart of the coalition of the European Union.

Soccer, as a significant part of Germans’ identity, joy and patriotism of the host community

gave a new positive picture of the country to the world (Robertson; 2006). According to

Wilson (2006), the 2006 World Cup brought together all Germans and unified the country,

proud of its identity, showing the colours of the country decorated every building, car and

people’s skin with noticeable patch. Thus, the mass media broadcasting this mega-event

provided shared experience and social cohesion (Rothenbuhler, 1988) between all Germans.

Moreover, the security policies of this World Cup have been very efficient and prevented any

significant troubles during the event (Wilson). Germany succeeded to manage all security

risks despite all concerns from the media about possible catastrophic attack and serious

street violence between hooligans. Indeed, the national police forces arrested and held in

preventive detention 1000 to 2000 people, who were causing trouble. This number is a very

small percentage of the two million visitors and fifty million people watching the matches in

public areas (Wilson). The interior ministry’s Mr Sachs claimed that “the level of self-

discipline was so high that every individual looking for trouble was isolated, and it was easy

to remove them” (Wilson). He even described the relation between the fans and the police as

a “solidarity pact”. The complete control of security in this event prevented the media to

broadcast violence acts that could have increased the audience’s perception of violence in

the real world. Indeed, violence watched on television by heavy viewers can lead to their

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perception of an increasing and disproportionate violence in the real world (Gerbner, 1998).

Thus, Germany is a great example of a host country that took profit of a mega-event. Indeed,

it enhanced its image over the world by a well-organized and efficient control of the risks but

also by the involvement of its host community that communicated a positive German identity.

Finally, a casestudy of the Australian media telecast of the Athens 2004 Olympics showed

direct changes in the audience’s perception of the host country as a result of the Olympics.

This study, conducted in Australia by Hede (2005), found that 39% of the audience change

their perception of Greece after the broadcast of Athens 2004. One participant viewed

Greece as “ancient Greece” (p.195), but after the Olympics, she knew more about the

country, ‘loved’ the harbour and the water and thought it was a very relaxing place to go.

Other respondents said that knowing more about the people and the culture of Greece made

them more interested in this country (Hede, 2005). Indeed, increasing awareness develops

interest and change of attitudes. For instance, the presentation of the aboriginal history in

Australia, during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, also developed the audience’s interest

(Preuss, 2006). The transmission of cultural heritage imagery through television

(Rothenbulher, 1988), can have an impact on interest and attitude change. According to the

social judgment theory, people make judgement about messages according to their latitudes

of acceptance and rejection of messages (Littlejohn, 2002, p.130).The latitude of acceptance

facilitates attitude change whereas the latitude of rejection prevents attitude change.

Moreover, the schema theory demonstrates that the association of the event brand and the

destination brand have to be well-matched on relevant attributes in order to guarantee a

positive image. Thus, the association of the event brand and destination brand has to be

well-matched and fall in the latitude of acceptance of consumers, who will be more likely to

change their attitude. Athens case study clearly shows that sporting events, paired with a

destination can present powerful imagery and influence emotional responses from the

audience.

Consumers’ intentions to visit destinations lead to a growing tourism in the host places.

Moreover, according to Standeven and De Knopp (as cited in Devine & Devine, 2005),

society is being ‘sportified’ and is influenced by the development of information and

communication technologies, such as satellite telecasting of sporting mega-events. The

global media thus influences new consumer behaviour and consumption patterns (Oh, 2002).

Indeed, since television is part of people’s daily life, it significantly influences their way of life

and behaviours (Gerbner, 1998). For instance, people are more interested in health and

fitness; they are also participating actively and socially in sports. As a result, sport tourism is

a significantly growing industry all around the world. It consists of travel to play sport (active

15

sport tourism), travel to watch sport (event sport tourism) and travel to visit famous sport-

related attractions (nostalgia sport tourism). For example, football, or more specifically the

Manchester United Football Club, is fully-integrated into the brand image of Manchester

(Smith, 2006). The football club is one of the main reasons for visiting the city. One of the

interviewees in Smith’s study (2006, p.87) claimed that people are going to Manchester to

see the club, to say they have been there and saw it. This statement is linked with people

needs of self-expression. Smith further explains that the club is now so big that “the club is

the city” (p.87). The media’s emphasize on the popular club creates and conveys the sporty

brand image of Manchester all around the world and generates sport tourism. However,

these positive outcomes should be balanced with the fact that the stress on the sport club

can ‘cannibalize’ other cultural attractions of the city that could appeal to different segments

than Manchester club’s fans.

According to Green and Chalip (as cited in McCartney, 2005), tourists’ growing attention to

sport is largely due to the influence of popular sporting mega-events such as the Olympics

and the soccer World Cup. Thus, the relationship between sport and tourism becomes closer

and deeper to attract the interest of consumers who are concerned about sport.

As seen previously in the case studies, the participants’ intention to visit the host destination

is influenced by the evaluation of the destination, which is influenced by the event being

hosted (Xing & Chalip, 2006). Moreover, the respondents of studies conducted on the effect

of hosting a mega-event on consumers’ perception of a destination, agreed that the culture

and landscape of the destination, viewed on television, influenced them to consider visiting it

(Hede, 2005). Furthermore, communication by the media usually drives positive perceptions

of the host destination. Indeed, television cultivates perception of the reality and influences

people’s attitudes toward events (Gerbner,1998). This influence results in the ‘supposed’

media objectivity and trust by the audience which enhances positive behavioural intentions to

visit the destination in the future (Hede, 2005). This intention to visit is largely driven by the

promotion of the host culture through the media and consequently makes cultural tourism

grow.

Cultural tourism has been defined as “travel directed toward experiencing the arts, heritage

and special character of a place” (“Pro-active management”, 2007). According to the media

relations officer at Sydney’s Opera House (as cited in Garcia, 2004), the Sydney Olympic

Arts Festival, from 1997 to 2001, demonstrated the aptitude and assets of Sydney as a

“world-class city” (p.110) providing a rich cultural experience. Moreover, Garcia’s article

showed the importance of arts programming within destination branding, to improve the

16

destination image and to attract tourists looking for added travel value such as arts and

cultural attractions. Nauright (2004) also reports that the arts programs of the Olympics

feature cities and nations as appealing destinations with interesting cultures to catch

consumers’ attention. Moreover, arts programming boosts tourists’ appeal and interest in the

medium to long term, whereas purely sporting events only have impact on tourism over a

short period. Creating long-term strategies is crucial to cultivate people understanding of the

destination. Indeed, cultivation analysis demonstrated that the cultivation process of beliefs is

only effective over a long term period (Littlejohn, 2002).

Critics arose about the emphasis put on the most spectacular side of arts programmes, at

the Sydney Olympics, to the detriment of more original and locally representative work

(Garcia, 2004) However, the host organizers explained this simple and catchy emphasis as

being necessary to be understood by diverse cultures and more appropriate to the media

and sponsors. Indeed, sponsors and media largely contribute to the Olympics’ success, by

financial contribution and international promotion (Garcia).

Thus, sporting mega-events present strong sport and cultural components that attract the

interest of diverse consumers. As seen previously, consumers have different needs and

expectations concerning their travel experience. The sport dimension of these events tends

to be more popular and direct, gathering a ‘sporting society’ but the cultural and arts

dimension appeals to a growing segment of tourism: cultural tourism, and attracts consumers

in a longer-term. As a result of the planning of the right strategies over a long-term period,

Calgary saw a direct impact of the 1988 Winter Olympics on tourism. Indeed, tourism

increased 8% during the three years previous to the Games, 12% during the Games and led

to an increase of 3.25 % annual growth for the next five years (A.T. Kearney, 2005).

The power of the media in mega-events

Destination branding and its relationship to mega-events lead to focus on the key element

that links the brand to the consumers: the media. Indeed, most of the publicity generated

during the organization of mega-events is due to the media and their broadcast of the

Games. As developed through the previous literature review, media are a significant and

effective communication tool and have a very strong influence on people’s perception of

events. They are viewed as a credible and non-commercial source by the audience

(Supovitz, 2005). Thus, destination marketers have to carefully take the media into serious

consideration to plan their event-related marketing strategies ahead of the event’s

organization (Hede, 2005).

17

According to Xing & Chalip (2006), brand awareness and image of a destination is enhanced

by the media coverage of mega-events. As seen previously, the co-branding and schema

theories explain the association process of the ‘destination brand’ and ‘event brand’ in

consumers’ minds. It is important to underline that the key element which allows this

association and gives the event its international and significant dimension is the media.

According to Marshall McLuhan (as cited in Littlejohn, 2002), the development of new

information and communication technologies has transformed the world into a global village

where the media are the powerful channels of communication (p.305). According to Allen,

O’Toole, Harris & McDonnell (2005), the world appears smaller and more immediate than

ever before. For instance, two and a half billion people watched the ceremonies of the

Sydney Olympics from their own national standpoint, with many cameras broadcasting all

possible angles of the event (Allen et al.).

Thus, the media provide awareness of the event broadcasted all over the world but also have

a power of influence on the audience. Indeed, cultivation analysis clearly explains that mass

media influence people’s view of the world by cultivating a shared conception of reality

among people throughout the world (Gerbner, 1998). Moreover, Beirman (as cited in Nielsen,

2003) claims that the media play a significant and influential role in shaping perceptions and

preferences for destinations. Indeed, the growing media participation in marketing a mega-

event, in collaboration with the tourism industry contributes to the success of mega-events

and explains its growing influence on the audience (Beirman as cited in Nielsen).

However, if mass media are able to provide access to information to a worldwide audience,

they can also be criticized for framing the reality. According to framing theory, media frames,

largely implicit and unrecognised, organize the world both for journalists who report it and, to

some important amount, for the audience who rely on their news. Media frames are

persistent models of cognition, interpretation, and presentation, of selection, emphasis, and

exclusion, by which symbol-handlers regularly organize communication, whether oral or

visual (Gitlin as cited in Holstein, 2003).

Indeed, the media do not show everything that surrounds the events broadcasted. For

instance, the media were involved in the shape of Barcelona’s Olympics image. Indeed, they

emphasised on positive values such as good will, tolerance, respect, peace and coexistence,

whereas all negative elements surrounding Barcelona such as pollution, rubbish and poverty

were left out of the image selection process (Moragas, Rivenburgh & Garcia, 1995). This

example shows the significant collaboration of the media with the tourism industry and its

consequences on information framing. Moreover, certain aspects of the host presentation,

18

during the Barcelona Olympics, were avoided by the media of certain nations. Indeed, the

Chinese media did not want to place the emphasis on the political autonomy or nationalism

of Catalonia within Spain. This reflects the authoritarian and repressive profile of the Chinese

government and its influence on its media and nation (Moragas et al., 1995). Because the

mass media have such a significant impact on people’s mind and cultivate people’s

perception of the world (Gerbner,1998), it is common to notice that nations have gatekeepers

who decide what information will be broadcasted and how it will be presented. Thus,

cultivation analysis theory explains the influence of frames on consumers’ perception of

information. Indeed, people develop their perception of events and create schemas by

relying on the reports of powerful mass media such as television. Framing is a significant risk

which can limit the audience’s in-depth understanding of events. Indeed, by framing and

simplifying the information, television does not allow the viewers to think and develop their

own ideas about the events (Perse, 2000).

According to Supovitz (2005), the media can be an event’s best friend or its worst enemy. In

other words, media can entertain and promote the event and the host destination but cannot

be entirely controlled by the host organizers. Media and sponsors are the essential elements

that make an event run. Indeed, while sponsors finance a significant part of the event, the

media generate an important amount of free publicity and influence the audience’s

perception of the event-destination brand through a cultivation process. Moreover, the

coverage of an event by the media gives it certain credibility thanks to the general trust that

the audience feels toward the media.

Conversely, this credibility and persuasion exerted by the media can be a threat in the case

of crisis. Indeed, it appears difficult for a destination that has suffered from worldwide

negative publicity, to recover. As detailed previously, this is why destinations need to have a

strong branding strategy that includes effective public relation communications and strong

and appealing messages. However, advertising campaigns do not have the credibility and

perceived objectivity that media have when conveying messages to the audience (Supovitz,

2005). Preuss (2006) also claims that the worldwide exposure of the event cannot be

completely controlled and is in the hands of the media. The host image can be affected by

many issues such as a bomb attack, organizational shortcomings and bad weather, as well

as exaggerated nationalism, poverty or crime. All these issues can be shown to million of

prospective consumers or business partners by the media, and can be significantly

detrimental to the host image. Moreover, unintended effects such as the increased and

disproportionate perception of violence in the real world can be the results of media

broadcasting of crises and violence acts (Gerbner, 1998).

19

Issues or crises are significantly more likely to occur in mega-events because of the events’

uniqueness, spectacular profile, the large crowds involved, new staff and volunteers,

movement of equipment and overall high excitement (Allen, O’Toole, Harris & McDonnell,

2005). The following case studies are analysed to understand how crises, wrongly managed,

can destroy a destination image.

Frightening risks such as terrorism are likely to happen because of the popularity and the

international broadcast of mega-events. What happened in the Munich Olympics in 1972 can

be largely explained by its worldwide broadcast. Abu Daoud (as cited in Marlowe, 2006), who

planned the Munich hostage-taking claimed: “people were more interested in sports than in

the plight of the Palestinians […] In one sense, we succeeded in Munich: we forced our

cause on to the television screens of 500 million households.” Indeed, the Olympics are the

biggest worldwide broadcast event that represents all the nations of the world so this is the

opportunity to gain the largest amount of free promotion, which unfortunately include bad and

revolting publicity. The Munich case study clearly shows a failure of crisis management.

Indeed, the German efforts to fix the crisis were characterized as “obvious dilettantism” (The

Worst night, 2006). Media all over the world covered the crisis with eye-catching headings:

“The Worst Night in the History of the Federal Republic” (Hamburg’s Die Zeit), “The Day of

the Jackals” (New York’s Daily News), “Crime against Mankind” (The Manila Daily Bulletin as

cited in “The Worst night”). The spirit of the Olympics was destroyed and what happened was

described as “more powerful than terror and violence” (International Olympic Committee

President Avery Brundage as cited in “The Worst night”, 2006). Thus, the image of the

Olympic Games suffered from this crisis, it did not convey the image of peace, respect and

coexistence anymore. However, Munich, and Germany, as the host destination endured a

much worse negative promotion. Indeed, as explained previously, it had never been easy for

Germans to be proud of their country (Robertson, 2006). In 1972, Germans thought they

finally got their “Olympic virginity” (“The Worst night”) back. However, the short geographic

distance between Munich and Dachau and Germany’s past history against Jews quickly

created the idea that Germans had something to do with the dead of the hostages. Cairo’s

Information Minister Sayyat even accused Germans of having killed the hostages with their

weapons. As a result, Germany’s reputation suffered from these accusations all over the

world. Germany appeared to be the culprit of this crisis that did not protect their Olympics

against criminals (“The Worst night”).

In fact, the crisis management in Munich was disorganised and unclear. When the hostage

issue came up, the crisis management team, managed by Franz Joseph Strauss tried to fix

20

the problem but when these efforts finally failed, Strauss quickly disappeared from the scene

and did not communicate with the media. Then, one day after all the hostages were killed,

campaigner Rainer Barzel uncertainly said “Once the Olympics have ended, but only after

our guests have departed, we will ask the questions that remain” (as cited in “The Worst

night”, 2006). Finally, the chancellor claimed that what actually happened was not what was

planned. He also accused the Bavarians of being the culprits of the mistakes committed

during the failed liberation of the hostages. His straight, unprepared and frivolous way of

communicating to the media contributed to a worse image of Germany, which did not handle

the Olympics and this significant crisis well.

More recently, the 1996 Atlanta Olympics generated a significant amount of negative

publicity, conveyed by the media. Indeed, even if the Games were successful regarding the

global organization, the Centennial Park bombing and the excessive heat and humidity

enhanced worldwide negative media coverage and led to a new and disparaging name for

the city: “Hotlanta”. Thus, Atlanta’s destination brand suffered from these events which

enhanced a negative perception of the city (A.T. Kearney, 2005).

These case studies demonstrate that crisis planning and management are essential to

handle the Olympics. Uncontrolled situations like terrorist events are detrimental to the

images of the mega-event and its host destination. Moreover, as discussed previously,

destination marketers use mega-events to communicate the strong associated schema of the

event and destination. This strategy can enhance positive outcomes if everything runs well

and the media are controlled. However, in the terrorist attack case just described, the

Olympics and the destination are associated in consumers’ brains and result in an overall

negative perception of this shared schema. Moreover, dominant mass media such as

television clearly reinforce negative perceptions of the audience and can even contribute to

increasing those by framing and repetition of the information (Gerbner, 1998).

These last arguments are valuable and are important to consider in the planning and

organization of mega-events. To guarantee that sporting mega-events and media

successfully mix to create positive destination branding, the host organization has to make

sure that control, coordination and coherence guide the organisation of the event.

Solutions

To ensure a greater control of the audience perception of the destination and event, effective

and coherent messages should be developed. Indeed, effective messages should be

designed to be credible, appealing, relevant and understandable (Rice & Atkin, 2000). Firstly,

21

messages are more accurate and believed to be true by the audience when they are

conveyed by a credible and trustworthy source (Rice & Atkin). Thus, credible media and

spokespersons should be chosen to communicate messages to the audience. Moreover,

messages have to be appealing and entertaining. Usually broadcast by rich visual

communication channels such as television, events have to be exceptionally “interesting,

stimulating and emotionally arousing” (Rice & Atkin, p.60). Relevance is another crucial

factor. Indeed, to be effective, messages need to be designed as a function of their

audience’s needs in order to personally involve them, through the right choice of media that

will catch their attention. Finally, messages have to be simple and clear to be understood by

diverse cultures all around the world.

Understanding stakeholders’ objectives and communicating with the diverse parties involved

is the key to greater control and coordination. This strategy will lead to the diffusion of the

designed messages aimed at the targeted audience. As shown previously (figure 1), many

stakeholders interact in the organization of an event. Indeed, the host organization

collaborates with the host community, sponsors, media, co-workers and spectators. Each of

these organisations has an important role and has to be fully-integrated in the preparation

and planning of the event. Management of the media and host community is further detailed

to show how a positive destination brand image can be enhanced and controlled.

According to Supovitz (2005), the purpose of the media-event sponsorship is to allow both

parties to have more control over the message they wish to communicate. Indeed, the event

marketers want promotion of a positive image of the event and destination as well as the

enhancement of the audience’s intention to visit the host place. The media wish to attract the

audience’s attention by providing newsworthy information of outstanding value in order to

push the audience to read or watch the media outlet. Thus, it is commonsense for both

parties to work together, to achieve their goals, with greater control. Thanks to this

collaboration, the marketers of the ‘event-destination’ brand provide the media with

newsworthy materials of human interest, and the media provide free publicity to the brand

through the broadcast of the event. Media should be managed before, during and after the

event to make sure that the messages are delivered in the right way. The Internet, for

instance, can have a significant role in developing positive attitudes, by providing constant

and newsworthy information before, during and after the event. Through this follow-up,

marketers create long-term strategies that cultivate consumers’ interest in the destination.

Moreover, the involvement of the host community is essential to communicate positive

messages to visitors. For instance, the volunteers involved in the Sydney Olympics gave a

22

welcoming dimension to the Games (Allen, O’Toole, Harris & McDonnell, 2005). The

‘solidarity pact’ between the German community and the national police allowed a better

control and an enjoyable 2006 World Cup. Thus, this positive collaboration with the

community led to a positive broadcast throughout the world. Moreover, in order to ensure the

positive image of the destination, local rumours have to be identified and controlled.

However, if a rumour is true, the crisis communication team should follow the basics of public

relations when facing crises. Regester and Larkin (2005) advise to “tell it all, tell it fast and

tell it truthfully” (p.186). These PR specialists warn organizations to communicate directly and

without hiding any facts to the public. Indeed, hiding an issue from the media, and

consequently the audience, will only ensure an international crisis and be detrimental to the

destination and event’s images over a long-term period.

Cultivation analysis demonstrates that mass media significantly influence and shape people’s

perception of events. Media frames can be explained by pressure of national governments

but also by the research of newsworthy, catching elements that are able to attract the

audience’ s attention. Indeed, with the development of globalisation, consumers are facing

an increasingly fragmented and fast-changing media environment; it is thus more and more

difficult to catch their attention. Moreover, globalisation has significantly changed the

organization of events. Indeed, Allen et al. (2005) further explain that globalisation is

transforming events and leading to their ‘virtual existence’ through the media. Indeed, events

are more and more being developed for the television’s audience to enhance a global

reputation. They become sometimes more powerful and meaningful than they are in reality.

Their telecast can have a very strong influence on the audience’s perception of the events.

The key is to use powerful channels of communication such as television to influence

people’s perception of the destination. Television is at the centre of the cultivation analysis

and thus should be the main medium used for persuasive communication campaigns.

However, television does not allow the audience to think about what they have seen, heard

or did not understand. Moreover, the development of new technologies changed the existing

media structure and how people rely on information. Today’s world is highly interactive,

involving people in two way communication. However, the Internet is not replacing television:

it adds time to television viewing and extends the overall time spent with media (Shanahan,

1999). This perspective allows marketers to repeat promotional messages without being

intrusive and irritating. Thus, this is an opportunity for marketers to design catchy messages

in Integrated Brand Promotion campaigns (IBP). The Internet gives the chance to have a

one-to-one and interactive relationship with the consumers. Online communications will

strengthen the messages if there is great control over it. Crises can be easily and quickly

23

spread because of the Internet and the ‘Global village’ of McLuhan (as cited in Littlejohn,

2002) but this can also be a great opportunity to communicate a positive, appealing and

credible image to the audience. Statistics proved that online communications, promoting

mega-events are popular; there was a 700 per cent increase in traffic to the Australian

tourism portal “australia.com” during the Sydney Olympic Games (Australian Tourist

Commission, 2001) Thus, the television channel remains the main focus to attract people’s

attention, but it needs to be linked to other interactive media such as the Internet to transform

awareness into intentions to visit the destination. Mega-events should be used in IBP

campaigns to create a ‘boom’ and catch the attention of 40% of the worldwide population but

it has to be integrated into a whole strategy of marketing communications over a long-term

period to show significant results. Through the smart and coherent use of diverse media,

destination marketers can create effective communication campaigns that reach their target.

By clearly defining who the targets of the campaign are and identifying their needs (functional

or emotional), marketers will have the tools to design effective messages that reach the

marketing objectives. Mega-events are thus a significant opportunity to connect emotionally

with a worldwide audience and enhance positive responses.

However, globalization can have negative consequences on the way mega-events are

organized. Indeed, mega-events are getting bigger and bigger; this global development can

be seen as a threat, because of its appeal to terrorist attacks or other risks but also because

of its exclusion of developing countries (Nauright, 2004); indeed, these countries do not have

the resources to compete with developed and powerful nations for mega-events bids. Thus, it

strengthen inequalities between nations and is getting more controversial, by its emphasis on

“gigantism” and money invested. Jean-Loup Chapelet (as cited in A.T. Kearney, 2005)

claimed that mega-events should stop to grow and be more unique and special, in order to

cultivate long-term understanding of the host’s history and identity throughout the world. This

perspective should be used in the early stages of the destination marketing strategy. Indeed,

the branding of the destination will define the identity of the destination and the messages

conveyed through the events. A creative and coherent integrated marketing strategy will

provide coherent association of the destination brand and event brand in a innovative and

outstanding way. This is the approach that Barcelona chose for the 1992’ Olympics. By

emphasizing the original and emotional aspects of the ceremonies, the city managed to

create long-lasting outcomes and involvement of its citizens. Indeed, in 2002, ten years after

these Olympics, 40 000 people met in Montjuic stadium to celebrate the anniversary of the

Games (A.T. Kearney, 2005). Thus, sporting mega-events should emphasize the distinctive

and appealing traits of the host culture, with control, coherence and coordination with all

24

stakeholders of the event, especially the media, to reach the objective: successful and long-

lasting destination branding.

Conclusion

Destination branding, as detailed at the beginning of this paper, is complex but crucial to

enhance tourism and positive economic outcomes. As a desired part of brand destination

portfolio, sporting mega-events are a great opportunity to positively influence the destination

branding of a host country. Indeed, they are the biggest global media event that arouses the

interest, enthusiasm, excitement and cohesion of the worldwide humanity. Massive free

publicity is conveyed by the global media coverage of the event and host country. The

cultural and artistic programs of sporting mega-events present powerful, ‘fell-good’ and

educational imagery to the audience. These allow the host destination to emotionally connect

with a global audience and enhance positive responses and attitude changes toward the

destination. Thus, sporting mega-events and media mix to create destination branding.

However, mega-events are prone to crisis risks because of their uniqueness, spectacular

profile, large crowd involved and overall high excitement. The biggest threat of the host

organizers, in crisis cases, is the global and savage destruction of the destination image.

Indeed, media can easily transform local issues into global crises. Media framing, by the

emphasis or exclusion of information, shape the audience perception of the reality and

attitude toward the destination. Thus, destination marketers and all stakeholders of the

‘event-destination brand’ should work closely to design credible, appealing, relevant and

understandable messages. The host organizers have to understand and satisfy media needs

and wants by a privileged and interactive dialogue. Moreover, the host organizers should

place the emphasis on the unique, special and cultural dimension of the event instead of the

‘gigantism’ mega-event’s dimension, in order to stand out and enhance successful

destination branding. Furthermore, using diverse and coherent communication channels will

effectively communicate the designed messages to the targeted consumers. To conclude,

the decisive tactic that will enhance a consistent destination branding strategy and long-term

positive outcomes for the host destination is the full-integration of sporting mega-events in

integrated brand promotion campaigns over a long period.

25

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