Patriotic meanderings? No, the 2012 challenge

Wouldn’t it be nice…

• If the marketing communications community collectively embraced London 2012 as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
• If the Olympics were treated as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to demonstrate the value of corporate design and communications.
• If they were seen as a peerless opportunity, a once-and-for-all, to solidify, restate and inculcate the brand values of Great Britain – and I don’t mean Morris-dancing.
• If they were regarded as an extremely rare chance to wrest back the Union Jack from the British National Party (see how much better the Olympic logo looks combined with that flag).
• To do much more than just paper over the cracks of what Conservative Party leader David Cameron calls a ‘broken’ society.
• To help restore purpose and pride in a nation that’s lost both (assuming we rustle up a few golds at the event).
• To unite the design industry in a positive frame of mind, no longer continually whingeing about not being sufficiently recognised in British boardrooms (just as the ad industry continually self-flagellates about losing ‘lead agency’ status).

Wouldn’t it be nice if my patriotic meanderings weren’t likely to be attacked as ‘naive’, ‘simplistic’, ‘unrealistic’, ‘jingoistic’ – whatever.

And wouldn’t it be even nicer if a dream project team of Sir Martin Sorrell, Wally Olins, Sir Richard Branson, David Bernstein, Lord Puttnam and their like would take up this Olympic challenge? Feel free to assemble your own elite task force.

Exit retreating back to the Tate Modern bar, but singing, hopefully.

Rick Holmes, Gin Rickey Consultants, London SW15