Olympic Torch-lessons for farming and heritage attractions

For several years now I have been involved in South West England’s preparation for the 2012 Olympic Games. Although when London won the bid in Singapore, our team promised that the Games would be for the whole country and not just for London, engagement with 2012 outside the capital was patchy. It didn’t help that, in Britain, we soon found ourselves in recession and the resulting budget cuts for Local Authorities in particular, led to a re-assessment of priorities. The Olympics, for obvious reasons, was not always top of that list.

It was therefore with a sense of apprehension that I watched BA flight 2012 touch down at RNAS Culdrose bringing with it, cradled by celebrities, the Olympic flame. The organisation had been done, the plans made but no-one knew how the public would react. For example, in my local parish - Cadbury in Mid-Devon-  in a recent questionnaire people had shown very little interest in an Olympic celebratory event.

                                         Celebrities with the flame disembarked at Culdrose

At Culdrose, with an invited audience only, it was difficult to gauge the public mood. The Princess Royal was excellent as ever; Seb Coe charming and smiling and three politicians: Clegg, Hunt and Johnson, thoughtful. The star, however was Beckham and it was him as much as the flame that the crowd wanted to see. It was therefore still with some trepidation that, having heard the alarm go off ridiculously early the next day, I set off for Land’s End.

                                         Ben Ainslie with the helicopter pilot

Almost immediately we saw crowds making their way there too- on buses, on bikes, in cars, on foot. All were smiling and happy in the dawn. The atmosphere was carnival, the beat of drums rhythmic and the fancy dress outrageous. A sense of expectation greeted the sound of the helicopter bringing the flame from its overnight storage in the Culdrose officers’ mess and Ben Ainslie- triple gold medallist- was swamped by photographers, reporters and TV crews as soon as he appeared with the torch. It was when he set off amidst cheering, flag waving crowds and handed over to Tassy Swallow who received the same superstar treatment that I felt optimistic about the reaction of the great British public.

As I waited, with others in cars, for the flame to pass through Penzance there was no road rage. No-one minded that the street decorations had been painstakingly erected for a fleeting moment only. Carrying on to Plymouth, the first overnight stop, I was amazed at the public reaction. The Hoe was jam packed with crowds. Down in the city centre people waited patiently for hours keeping their place alongside the torchbearers route. When the runners arrived the excitement was palpable; the cheering loud and long. This was a pattern to be repeated in Exeter the following night and in Taunton the next.

                                                        crowds on Plymouth Hoe

It quickly became apparent that it is the torchbearers who are the stars. Their stories are truly inspiring. What I was not prepared for was the emotion experienced by the crowds at seeing them run, or walk or be helped along; see them exchange the torch 'kiss' or run through the cheering crowds up onto the stage to light the flame. This emotion was felt not just along the route, although this was impressive enough; not just in the venues for the evening celebrations though they were packed; it was around the corner, down the street and in the park. It felt to me like a great outpouring of relief that they had something to celebrate; something positive, some good news amongst the relentless and depressing diet of gloom that forms the standard media output. Gone was the previous cynicism. It had been replaced with joy

                                         Torchbearer cheered through Exeter's Cathedral Close

What are the lessons that the farming and the heritage attraction sectors; sectors also close to my heart can draw from this experience?

The message has been simple and easy to understand; the product has a recognisable brand and it has been well communicated. It has appealed to a lot of people but, in view of the population distribution in this country, it has been and will increasingly be, an urban phenomenon even if some of the iconic images have been taken in the countryside. This is not surprising as the aim is to bring the flame within range of 95% of the population. Novelty, patriotism, admiration, compassion and excitement are five words that sum up for me some of the reasons that the Torch Relay has been a success so far. It has gone with the grain of the population and the stage shows have appealed to a young audience for whom rap, hip-hop, dance and acrobatics are important.

Are farming messages simple? Possibly but are they well communicated and contemporary? I am not so sure. Do they play well to an urban population where the main markets are? Yeo Valley advertisements, albeit tongue in cheek, are an exception to the rule. Do they command admiration, compassion and excitement-probably not. Local food campaigns do play on a patriotic, community heart string and novelty is not a problem with new products constantly being introduced. The issue is that farmers are often not in control of how their product is presented. This is left to the retailers. Yet in a world increasingly at risk of a food imbalance, there is more respect for those in agriculture. What won’t help are the tweets that I have picked up from elements of the farming community decrying the Relay and declaring it to be a waste of money. This is dangerous talk if farming is to be properly positioned appealing to the right audiences and particularly for an industry in receipt of huge sums of public money.

In the heritage attraction world I think some of the issues are similar. Perhaps admiration and respect are more in evidence than for farming where the hard work and wholesome products are sometimes tarnished by the perception of subsidies and welfare. The heritage message is similarly simple. By definition the product is not contemporary and its presentation could certainly be more so. Popular heritage destinations are either those that induce wonder through the architecture (Blenheim) or the contents (National Gallery) or have immediacy or a connection with community (Cothele Manor House or St Enedoc’s church) What is often lacking is excitement and relevance. The Olympic Torch had all of this but of course it has two distinct advantages; adequate funding and the fact that it only comes around, for us at least, every 64 years.