Live from Chicago: City Wants to Get Into the Olympic Game

To some, Chicago may just be a city. But to others, it is a brand.

Mark Mitten, senior vice president, marketing and legacy of the Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid team, wants to link that brand to the world’s premier sporting event.

Having the city host the games would create a legacy for Chicago, and inspire new generations, says Mitten, whose varied resume includes doing branding for the U.S. Olympic Committee and a stint as a producer for “The Apprentice.”

He cited the 1893 World’s Columbian Exhibition, which was the first time many people rediscovered the city after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. Twenty seven million people traveled to Chicago to visit the expo, which boasted many firsts, including the introduction of the Ferris Wheel and Wrigley Juicy Fruit Gum (possibly now “Mars/Wrigley Juicy Fruit Gum,” he quipped).

Interestingly enough, he noted, Pierre de Coubertin, who started the modern Olympic movement, was inspired to do so after a visit to the 1893 fair.

Six other cities are competing to host the 2016 games: Rio de Janeiro; Prague; Tokyo; Baku, Azerbaijan; and Doha, Qatar.

To win the honor of hosting the Olympics, the city must brand itself and sell idea that the games aren’t just Chicago’s games, but America’s games.

The host city will be announced on Oct. 2, 2009. But the next important date is June 4 of this year, when the short list of bid cities will be narrowed down. if Chicago is on that list, it will have to compile a 498 page “bid book,” outlining every aspect of the city’s plan to host the games. Then next spring, the International Olympic Committee will visit Chicago to gather more information, The committee also researches around the country, to gauge the country’s awareness and support for Chicago’s bid.

“The Olympics will be our generation’s Worlds Columbian Fair,” he said, noting that while sports is obviously the main attraction of the Olympics, peace is the event’s main message.

Mitten delivered the luncheon keynote Tuesday at the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing’s IMX08 conference at the Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers.

At the conference, CADM also debuted a revamped Web site for the association, at http://www.cadm.org.