Rubina Singh discusses the role big business can play in support of sport and major sporting events with Daryl Jelinek, Coco-Cola’s General Manager for the London Olympics and Paralympic Games
Not a week goes by without developments in plans towards gearing Qatar for hosting the 2022 World Cup. But is that preparation limited only to infrastructure, building hotel accommodations, railroads and stadiums? Certainly not! There are so many levels and so many contributors to gearing up for a major sporting event, than first meets the eye.
Daryl Jelinek, Coco-Cola’s General Manager for the London Olympics and Paralympic Games, is one of the key players in the run-up to the World Cup extravaganza.
Excerpts from an interview:
What exactly does your role involve?
My responsibility is to make the most of our largest global asset, which is the Olympic Games. So for the last four years I’ve been building our legacy plans and our project teams to use this asset in our marketing and customer programmes, our sustainability projects and people engagement events across all the projects that we delivered at Games time. So for example, projects like the Torch Relay which ran for 70 days, up and down the country, culminating in the opening ceremony. In fact, the Coca-Cola company has supported the torch relay in seven out of the eight torch relays at the Games.
What does ‘supporting’ in this context involve?
Well, as presenting partner, we were helping the London Olympics Organising Committee with all the logistics for taking the show on the road. As part of that, we designed a campaign celebrating the best of British youth, in British communities. So we ran a nomination campaign across the country, where local communities could nominate youth who were doing great work in their community. And then, we celebrated 1,400 of these people by giving them the opportunity to run with the torch at the torch relay.
The Coca-Cola company has been the longest running global sponsor of the Olympics and with that comes a role of real responsibility, in supporting the local organising committee wherever the games are being held.
In layman terms, what does that involve?
Well, in broad terms, it involves sharing three things: knowledge, capability and finance.
What kind of knowledge?
We have been supporting and are proud partners of FIFA since 1978, there is a lot of knowledge that has been built up, both with the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and with the execution of the project at Games time. One of the key challenges, for example, is providing soft drinks to every single spectator, athlete and media person. So the experience and knowledge on how to ensure that everybody remains hydrated and refreshed during the Games is crucial.
Is that really such a challenge?
It is indeed a sizeable challenge! Take for example the London Olympics. We provided over 18mn soft drinks in a two-week window, which is quite a feat in itself. This involved placing 3,000 cooling machines in all of the venues and merchandising all of those coolers throughout the duration of the Games as well. This is a significant logistical challenge, but, the knowledge of having done it at Games after Games really helps us to hit the ground running when it comes to event at such a large scale.
Your contribution towards international events has been ongoing for quite some time. How is your visit to Qatar connected to the FIFA World Cup coming to Qatar in 2022?
We have been proud partners of FIFA since 1978 and as part of that partnership we take the trophy tour around the world. It’s a little bit similar to the torch relay, but it’s simply taking the World Cup around the world, and I know there will be plans to do exactly the same thing when it comes to Qatar in the future.
And will you be taking care of that?
I’m just responsible for the Olympics, so some lucky person will be executing that role here. And I think it is highly likely to be a local link in the Coca-Cola chain. The company prefers to appoint a local, because that person has the knowledge of the local market, local contacts, and the local DNA at heart. The company will then work with that person, as they did with me during the recent London Olympics to deliver the best execution of the asset.
In what ways can large Corps contribute towards supporting major sporting events?
There are three key areas that Corps can help. As I mentioned earlier, the first is knowledge: We can support the local organising committee who are new to the role of staging the game as it happens in a different country each time.
Next is capability, which is crucial. Every single one of the London Olympics sponsors for example, was bringing something to support the Games. In our case it was soft drinks including water and juices for the media, athletes and all the spectators.
And of course, finance. Without which most of these events would never take place. For example, without the global sponsors who have been supporting the Olympics, such as Nike, Coca-Cola etc, possibly half of the National Olympic Committees would not be able to send their athletes to the Games because they just can’t afford it. So in summary, it’s about knowledge, capability and finance.
And underpinning all of that is our whole corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda. The key thing in London was what we call our sustainability legacy. One highlight of our CSR contribution to this mammoth event was that every single drink we provided was made of recycled PET.
From that event alone, we recycled over 10mn bottles which were made into new plastic bottles and were back in the market place within six weeks. So it’s highly likely that a spectator at the Paralympics was drinking from a bottle that had actually first been used at the Olympic Games a few days earlier. As part of our Olympic sustainability programme, together with our bottling partner in the UK, we invested in a joint venture in a major recycling plant which processes double the amount of recycled plastics that is used in the UK.
So again, this is further demonstration of how private corporations like us can support recycling and sustainability initiatives in order to minimise the environmental footprint of large scale sporting events.
So can we look forward to your presence here bringing much needed recycling initiatives to Qatar as well?
I think that’s something for the authorities in Qatar to decide. But of course when you have a recycling programme, it can be applied anywhere in the world.
I’m also working with the local teams in Qatar to transfer some of the highlights from our project in London Olympics, so they might decide that some of those are relevant to the market here in Qatar, one of which may or may not be recycling.
Large corporations certainly do have vested financial interests as they are essentially profit-making businesses but it is possible for financial and community development to go hand in hand.
Are there any other initiatives that you achieved in the London Olympics that could also be duplicated here in Qatar in connection with future events?
There are a variety of project ideas to be gained, such as how corporations can help disadvantaged youth in sport.
The experience we had in London through our “Future Flames Campaign” where we try to shine a light on the best of British youth in the torch relay — that could certainly be something that can be duplicated to the benefit of the people in Qatar.
You also support a local doorstep charity called Street Games. Tell us more about that?
This is a charity providing sporting facilities for children in disadvantaged areas and together with Street Games, we have now given over 110,000 children the opportunity to play sport. And this is also an example of initiatives Coca-Cola is involved in where transfer of learning takes place as well as something that could be duplicated here in Qatar.
Can corporate organisations such as yours play a role in promoting the involvement of disadvantaged youth in sports?
There are a few things that we provide. Firstly, funding. Then onwards through practical activities such as securing ‘not in use’ local facilities like youth clubs and schools and then to arrange coaching for disadvantage youth in these areas by organising Olympic athletes whom we support, to give training to these disadvantaged youth through Street Games.
We also gave 60 Street Games children the opportunity to run with the torch, and another 43 worked on our operating team during the Games thereby, gaining valuable work experience, one of the ways, we create a post games opportunity for them to gain employment.
At a personal level, what do you take away from your experience and contribution to this gigantic event?
I would just say that the last four years working on the Olympic project has been an incredible journey, an incredible privilege, and incredible fun. I really do feel privileged to have had the opportunity to work in this environment and ultimately to be part of staging a gargantuan international sporting event like the Olympics. It was great to be able to share that with my family, with my two children who are just about old enough to enjoy those events and also with all my colleagues across the Coca-Cola company.
Daryl Jelinek with his partner Thalia at the opening ceremony of the London Olympics 2012.
