London 2012: BBC launches Olympic torch relay trail
- Published
The BBC will be covering the Olympic torch relay online throughout the event from 18 May to 27 July
The BBC has launched its Olympics marketing campaign with the release of a minute-long trail highlighting the torch relay.
The trail will run on BBC One, BBC Two and BBC Three, and will then move into a 40 second promotion for a <link> <caption>One Show</caption> <altText>Link to the One Show</altText> <url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007tcw7" platform="highweb"/> </link> special on 18 May, the day the torch arrives in the UK from Greece.
It is the first time audiences have heard the <link> <caption>specially commissioned Elbow track "First Steps"</caption> <altText>Link to story about Elbow being commissioned by the BBC</altText> <url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-15856028" platform="highweb"/> </link> , featuring the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and an Olympic Choir - put together to perform on the track.
The version used on the torch campaign is a taster for the full track, which will be launched for the Games time marketing campaign and BBC Olympic title sequences.
One of BA's special-liveried 2012 aircraft
The Olympic flame will be lit at the Temple of Hera in Olympia on 10 May and will travel round other parts of Greece before being presented to the London organisers in the Panathenaic Stadium, Athens, on 17 May in an hour-long evening ceremony.
The following day, it will be flown in a gold-painted British Airways Airbus 319 - flight number BA2012 - <link> <caption>to RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall</caption> <altText>Link to story about BA flying torch to RAF Culdrose</altText> <url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16832062" platform="highweb"/> </link> .
It will travel in a ceremonial lantern, secured in a cradle, fixed to a seat.
On the morning of 19 May, it will be flown by helicopter to Land's End, from where it will be <link> <caption>carried round the UK</caption> <altText>Link to street-by-street lists</altText> <url href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17358291" platform="highweb"/> </link> by 8,000 people over 8,000 miles for 70 days, ending at the Olympic Stadium in Stratford for the Games opening ceremony on 27 July.
The creative idea behind the torch relay campaign was devised by an agency, RKCR/Y&R, and the BBC, and is based on the design of the torch.
The trail opens on the "DNA" of the flame then pulls out to reveal the torch, created in graphical dots which make up forms and characters.
Celebrations are revealed across the UK, underlining the BBC's objective of uniting the nation around a major event.
Elements from the animation will be used in the title sequences for the BBC torch specials, the One Show and Blue Peter as well as on the BBC's online pages.
The broader theme of the BBC's London 2012 campaign is "You're All Invited", which is aimed at capturing the BBC's duty to the public and as a personal invitation to the nation to share the experience with the BBC.
A spokeswoman said: "It's an idea that also unifies all the BBC channels, platforms and services which will deliver the Games, demonstrating the BBC's unique role and underpins all our marketing activity."