The last 24 hours haven’t been the best for the organisers
of London 2012. Last night, the North
Korea women’s football team left the
field in anger after the South Korean flag was mistakenly displayed in a
video introducing the players. And today, it’s been revealed that the official
programme for the British men’s football team has
listed Welshman Joe Allen as English.
In the eyes of many, the Olympics will kick off in earnest
tomorrow evening at the opening ceremony. To have two such high-profile
blunders already will have caused a few red faces in London 2012 HQ. They’ll be doubly keen to make sure no other
slip-ups are made.
The truth is, we all make mistakes. Right now, though, that
probably isn’t much solace to Joe Allen or the North Korea women’s football team.
To minimise the storm these gaffes could cause, the public needs to hear apologies
– but the parties involved also need to hear apologies in person, and quickly.
Otherwise, bad feelings linger, the mistake continues to make headlines, and
all the good work you are trying to do ultimately gets undermined.
From a communications perspective, when launching a big
campaign the last thing you want is to slip coming out of the blocks. But, much
like a sprinter, the most important thing ‘Team 2012’ can do now is stay calm,
recover their composure and complete the rest of the event with no slip ups.
Tom Yazdi
Consultant
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