Perfect timing. Last week, the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Games organizing committee recruited an international communications and media relations agency. A few days later, on Saturday November 5, 2016, 200.000 South Koreans marched in good order through the streets of Seoul, the capital, to demand the resignation of the country's president, Park Geun-hye.
The two events are not linked. But the political crisis that South Korea is going through, one of the most serious since the country's accession to democracy in the 80s, reinforces the need for the organizing committee for the PyeongChang 2018 Games to take care of its communication.
For this, the South Koreans chose Hill+Knowlton Strategies. The American agency, whose head office is located in New York, today has 90 offices in 52 countries. Recruited after an international call for tenders, she has significant experience of the Olympic Games, having supported the organization of the Beijing Games in 2008, Vancouver in 2010 and London in 2012.
According to a press release written by the two parties, H+K will have the mission during the 18 months remaining before the PyeongChang 2018 Games to lead a communications campaign and manage international media relations. She will also be in charge of providing the organizing committee with “strategic advice” in crisis situations or on management issues in the preparation of the next Winter Games.
The PyeongChang 2018 brief will be led by Lorna Campbell, Asia Pacific Area Director for Sports Marketing and Sponsorship at Hill+ Knowlton. Recruited last spring, the Briton has supported, during her career, within her own agency, the organizing committees of the London 2012 Games, the Commonwealth Games, the 2014 Ryder Cup and the Beijing Cycling Tour .
18 months before the Games, his mission is off to a flying start. South Korea is going through a political crisis that could quickly leave the country without governance, a scenario not conducive to preparations for the Winter Olympics. Park Geun-hye, 64, is accused of having been under the control of a sulphurous shadow advisor, Choi Soon-sil, 60. The latter would have taken advantage of her influence over the head of state to despoil large Korean industrial groups. Choi Soon-sil was arrested in Seoul on Thursday, November 3, for fraud and abuse of power, while she was returning from a trip to Germany.
The next day, Park Geun-hye admitted in a televised speech that she had been reckless. She repeated that she took full responsibility for this political scandal. She said she was ready to be heard by the prosecution, despite the immunity guaranteed to her by her status. But the head of state, whose popularity rating has dropped to 5%, denied reports that she had participated, under the influence of her “ Rasputin”, to a religious cult of shamanic inspiration.
According to South Korean political analysts, it is unlikely that Park Geun-hye will hand over the keys to her presidential office. She should instead complete her mandate at the end of 2017, despite declining legitimacy.
For the organizing committee of the 2018 Winter Games, the political crisis presents itself as an additional obstacle in the preparation of an event already shaken by delays in the construction of the sites and a marketing program less effective than expected.
“It is very important to strengthen the international image of the PyeongChang 2018 Games, in order to create enthusiasm around this event,” commented Yeo Hyung-koo, the secretary general of the organizing committee, after the contract signing. partnership with Hill+Knowlton Strategies. We are confident in H+K's ability to offer us a new approach, which will help share our Olympic dream around the world. »
