The advertising agencies asked to compete for the Olympic image contract include several in Utah that contributed services to the bids for the Winter Games.
A total of 19 of the 38 requests for proposals mailed out by the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee went to Utah companies, including Harris & Love Inc., which oversaw design work for both the 1998 and 2002 bids."We've been at it since about 1986," said Mickey Gallivan, Harris & Love president and chief executive officer. He estimated the agency has contributed about $400,000 worth of work to the Olympic effort.
"That's taught us a little bit about what's to come in getting ready for the actual Games," Gallivan said. But even if the agency is not chosen, the project is big enough that there'll be work for Harris & Love, he said.
Other Utah companies involved with the bid effort include Evans-Group, which lent spokesman Mike Korologos to the 2002 campaign; PPC&H, which designed the 1998 bid books; Adrian Pulfer Design; FJC and N; and Ted Nagata Graphic Design.
Olympic and bid-related experience is an important part of what organizers are looking for, said Mary Gaddie, who's overseeing the look of the 2002 Winter Games for the Olympic committee.
"That's a big one - experience," Gaddie said. An effort was made to include all Utah advertising agencies that helped the state's Olympic effort in the bidding process, she said.
Non-Utah firms were chosen to receive invitations to bid based on their Olympic experience as well, Gaddie said.
Most of the out-of-state companies on the mailing list are based in Atlanta, site of the 1996 Summer Games. At least six of the non-Utah companies helped to design the image for Atlanta's Games.
The Atlanta design team, selected in January 1994, is composed of three Atlanta firms as well as companies based in Boston; Providence, R.I.; and San Francisco.
Two of the Atlanta-based companies are minority-owned, and the third represents a partnership with a minority firm, according to the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games official press guide.
More than 490 firms responded to the Atlanta committee's request for proposals, the press guide stated. The design chosen for the 1996 Summer Games is "A Quilt of Leaves," symbolizing the natural beauty of Atlanta and the cultural heritage of the American South.