Although the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver are still more than a year away—the Olympics take place February 12 through 28—plans are well under way for two hospitality venues spearheaded by Jordan Bitove and his team at VisionCo. The Toronto-based marketing and communications company will offer 17 days of programming at a premium hospitality venue in Whistler, B.C., during the Games. In addition, the firm—which Bitove founded in 1998 as a sports and entertainment marketing agency—is working with clients like NYC & Company and the State of Arizona on destination marketing campaigns and with brands like Corby Distilleries Ltd. to execute events through a variety of brand-building promotions. Bitove will also give one of the keynote presentations at the BizBash Event Style Show at the Direct Energy Centre in Toronto on February 11. (Information about the show is here.)
Tell us a bit about what you’re planning for Vancouver 2010.
For the last year and a half a major part of my focus has been on a number of programs around the 2010 Olympics. We formed partnerships [with organizations like Hockey Canada, the N.H.L., and the N.H.L.P.A.] to create what will be the absolute place to be in the 2010 Olympics. It will be a place for like-minded people who want a premium event hospitality experience to be able to get together en masse.
Corporations like Coke and Bell will do their own pavilions, but there’s no place where sport has really driven that. Hockey is the sport that unites us in Canada, so we're using hockey as the driving force behind it. Hockey House Live is going to be about 80,000 square feet. It will be programmed with world class entertainment, alumni appearances, team appearances, celebrities, Olympians, etc., and it will hold up to about 4,000 people at any given time.
Have you ever done anything like this before?
In Atlanta we created two venues: a 1,500-seat one and an 800-seat one for the equestrian people. We were taking care of royal family members, but it wasn’t a place where fans of the sport were able to buy access. It was reserved hospitality, whereas our venue [in Vancouver] will have that element of exclusiveness to the athletes and to the hockey teams. The person who has a ticket will want to go there pre-game and post-game.
Where will Hockey House Live be located?
We’re building it right beside GM Place, which is important because traffic becomes a nightmare. Getting around is impossible [in many Olympic cities]. We're literally 200 yards from the hockey venue. And beside us you’ve got B.C. Place, which will host the nightly medal ceremony, so you’ve got 100,000 people in that general area day and night.
How long have you been working on this project?
The concept as a whole? Probably for about five years, but really since the Turin Olympics in 2006. That’s really when we started working on it, so almost two years full-time. We’re ramping up our team now. We estimate by about this time next year we’ll be up to about 400 people working on the project and as many as about 800 by the time the Games roll around.
Can you talk about some of the challenges involved when you're working in an Olympic atmosphere?
The biggest challenge is really respecting Vanoc (the organizing committee), and the I.O.C., and sponsors. Our model has really been to do everything within the Olympic rings so that we are not ever seen as a guerrilla marketing tactic. It’s really been an inclusive approach where we have gone exclusively to all the Olympic partners and talked to them about it.
The second challenge was finding a location. Like any great event or experience, you want to find a location that is conducive to transportation, ease of access. We found what is probably the best location in all of Vancouver. Then you’ve got 17 days to wow people, creating an entertaining, world class experience that has people pounding down the doors to get in is a challenge. And our goal is always to wow people. We want the world to walk away from Vancouver saying no one has ever done that before and that was the most unbelievable experience of the Olympics.
What are your plans for the venue in Whistler?
We’re actually working with the International Bobsleigh Federation, and we’re creating a venue that’s going to be called Bobsleigh House. It’s going to be party central in Whistler. We’ve got an outstanding location in the village that will accommodate about 500 people, and it will be programmed with outstanding entertainment. The who’s who that will be in Whistler will have access to it. It’s a scaled-down version of the venue in Vancouver. The venue in Vancouver will be a state-of-the-art audiovisual experience with unbelievable food and drink. The venue in Whistler will be more of an authentic ski environment with fireplaces and a cozy, comfortable space.
What are you planning in terms of programming?
The programming for the most part will be Canadian acts. Tyler Stewart of the Barenaked Ladies, our musical curator for the venue, said it best. He said every rock star wants to be a hockey player and every hockey player wants to be a rock star. So in talking to a number of the iconic Canadian bands about performing there, they’re all absolutely over the moon about it. They’ll be able to go to the Olympics and watch hockey and experience the whole thing.
