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Playing off the idea that Workopolis is the gateway to volunteering for the Games, Olympic-branded gateway arches will be set up in major urban centres. Beneath them, street teams will distribute information about volunteering for the games to passersby. At some locations, an office chair slalom will see participants race through pylons for prizes.
The campaign will visit Vancouver, Squamish and Whistler in British Columbia (from where most of the volunteers are expected). It will also appear in Calgary, Winnipeg, Toronto, Montreal and Halifax.
“Not everyone can go to the Olympics as an athlete,” says Amy Davidson, senior consultant with Environics Communication, which will staff and organize the street events. “Some of us are going to have to go as corporate athletes or volunteers.”
The street effort will be bolstered by radio, online and television ads from Due North Communications that follow the same non-athletic tact. A 30-second TV spot pokes fun at less-than-graceful skiers, skaters and snowboarders to illustrate that while few can compete in the Games, volunteering is a good way to take part.
The 25,000-volunteer goal is complicated by the fact that many of the positions require specific skills ranging from driving vehicles to physiotherapy. VANOC expects it will need as many as 250,000 applicants to find enough people with the necessary skills.
To help sift through candidates, Workopolis is developing a web portal to provide volunteering criteria.
Workopolis was named the Game’s official supplier of online recruitment services in 2006.
“From our perspective, this [recruitment drive] was an opportunity to really build awareness of our sponsorship and, from a business perspective, to drive traffic to our site,” says Max Tremblay, vice-president of marketing at Workopolis. The campaign hits the streets Feb. 11.
