BBH Equates Olympics With N.Y. Numbers

NEW YORK Bartle Bogle Hegarty's portion of the NYC2012 ad campaign focuses on signs around New York that make it seem like the city is destined for the Olympics.On Monday, NYC2012, the committee dedicated to bringing the 2012 Olympics to New York, broke a campaign the includes eight TV spots, two radio ads, outdoor and guerilla marketing. BBH's part of the campaign includes outdoor ads focusing on the similarities between certain statistics in New York and statistics involving the Olympics. For example, the distance the ball drops in Times Square on New Year's Eve is 75.9 feet and the Olympic discus throw record is 75.9 yards. A TV spot featuring Billy Crystal and Regis Philbin shows Crystal in different parts of New York, including Central Park and the Carnegie Deli, comparing statistics. It takes a lighter approach than the print ads—in an improvised line, Crystal says a sandwich at the Carnegie Deli weighs as much as Olympic gymnast. He also claims that the circumference of Philbin's head is equal to the Olympic women's shot put record. The tagline: "The signs are everywhere."The idea originated in a brainstorming session that involved copywriter Peter Kain and associate creative director Dana Satterwhite. Other BBH New York staffers on the campaign were former executive creative director Kevin McKeon, co-founder John Hegarty, associate creative director Chris Brignola and art director Gianfranco Arena."New Yorkers are kind of sophisticated; they might not go for a standard tearjerker message," Kain said. "So we wanted to try something with a sense of humor, that was lighthearted. . . . Dana made the observation that the year 2012, if you take out the zero, it's 212, Manhattan's area code," Kain continued. "We all thought that was a dumb idea and didn't do anything with it."The BBH creative team soon realized the numbers concept might work, and began researching a variety of statistics about New York and the Olympics. Only about one-tenth of what they found made it into the ads. Some facts they used: the number of runners in an Olympic relay race and the number of passengers allowed in a taxi cab are both four; an Olympic gold medal and a Carnegie deli sandwich weigh the same; and the women's 200-meter freestyle swimming record and the time it takes to ride the Cyclone roller-coaster are also equal.Kain said the facts are all true—almost."Everything in there is a verified fact," he said. "We made an educated guess about Regis' head circumference, but everything else was triple-checked."In addition to the BBH work, DDB, Young & Rubicam and Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners, all in New York, created ads for NYC2012.

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BBH Equates Olympics With N.Y. Numbers

Mae Anderson

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Mae Anderson