By Cybele Negris

During the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver, I was invited to attended an Olympic related event at PricewaterhouseCoopers. I was impressed by the level of planning and execution of the event held in the PwC Olympic Lounge where attendees were invited to network, watch the women’s hockey game (Canada vs Switzerland) and to take part in a wine tasting. 

After the event, I was curious as to what holding an event like this meant for a company like PwC. I took the opportunity to find out more about what PwC was doing to leverage off the Olympics and determine whether hosting these types of events gives such companies a return on their investment. I was also interested in whether there were motivations beyond business for PwC to support the Olympics.

It seems support for the Winter Olympics and Canada’s athletes has long been a part of PwC’s culture. They were one of the official supporters of Canada’s bid for the 2010 Winter Games during 2002-2003. PwC is also the exclusive auditor, tax and business advisor to Alpine Canada Alpin (the governing body for alpine ski racing in Canada) and they provide financial and in-kind support to the ACA Podium Club. They sponsored individual skiers Jean-Philippe Roy and Geneviève Simard who unfortunately both had to pull out of this year’s Olympic Games due to prior injury.

Interestingly, they also have a number of Olympians at PwC and some retired staff who have competed in the past. To name a few, John Larsen, a retired partner, competed in the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games in the Rowing competition. Nic Youngblud, an associate in the Calgary office, achieved a personal goal by being part of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games as a member of the Canadian National Men’s Water Polo Team. So for PwC, support of the Olympics certainly goes beyond purely for business reasons.

For the 2010 Winter Games, they started planning operations and their involvement about 18 months ago. They had 3 main priorities during the Olympics—staff engagement in the Games, maintaining a high level of client service, and reducing vehicle trips into downtown Vancouver. They hosted events for staff and partners “to celebrate this once in a lifetime sporting and cultural event.” Big screen TVs were also installed in their lunch room for staff to drop by and watch events and they also had staff draws for tickets and prizes. "The Winter Olympic Games offer a unique opportunity to host key clients and get to know strategic targets. We converted part of one of our floors into a client hosting lounge area for meetings with clients and business networking receptions.”

Since the PwC building downtown is located near the Convention Centre where the International Broadcast Centre and Main Media Centre for the Olympics were located, the Olympics road closures impacted PwC. Let’s not forget the timing of the Olympics overlaps with the busiest 2 to 3 weeks of the year for more than half of PwC’s staff who provide audit services, tax support and regulatory filings for corporate clients.

However, they decided to "embrace this once in a lifetime opportunity." They maintained a high level of client service during the Olympics by using some creative methods. For uninterrupted client service plus reduction of trips downtown, they leased temporary office space in south Richmond and encouraged staff that live south of Vancouver to use this facility instead of the downtown office. This office was accessible by the Canada Line. Some of the staff even worked at their client’s sites if they were outside of the downtown core. Staff were encouraged to work from home where possible, or leave their cars at home and take transit, walk or bike to work. Their goal was to reduce vehicle trips into downtown Vancouver by more than 50%. “We recently implemented a number of technology solutions that enable our people to work uninterrupted from home, our Richmond site or at a client’s office.” 

As to whether PwC has been able to leverage off the Olympics successfully to drive more business, well, it is too early too tell. Their main reason to set up their hosting lounge and organize various business development and networking events onsite was to get together with clients, Alumni and other contacts and celebrate Canada’s achievements in the Olympic Games. “Professional services are a relationship-oriented business and it is important to create some very valuable face-time with clients and local business and community leaders.”

Having said that, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Private Company Services group created quite a buzz during the Games with their "in the red campaign”. They put large sign outside the Vancouver office (Granville Square) situated in the heart of the Olympic action and asked people to share their photos. Thousands stopped to take pictures in their Canadian colours with the PwC sign and some of the best shots are being posted on a photo album on the PwC website.

PwC's in the red campaign - "Just this once, we're happy to see everyone in the red. Go Canada"

More information

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (www.pwc.com) provides industry-focused assurance, tax and advisory services. In Canada, PwC (www.pwc.com/ca) and its related entities have more than 5,300 partners and staff in offices across the country.

Related Posts:

Vancouver Small Business & the Olympics- Part I of Series – Eclipse Awards by Cybele Negris

Vancouver Small Business & the Olympics – Part II of Series – Forum for Women Entrepreneurs by Cybele Negris

Vancouver Small Business & the Olympics – Part III of Series – Residential Construction Industry by Cybele Negris

Vancouver Small Business & the Olympics – Part IV of Series – Interview with George Hunter, CEO of Small Business BC by Cybele Negris

Business & the Olympics – Part V of Series -Interview with Pascal Spothelfer, President, BCTIA by Cybele Negris

Cybele Negris is Co-Founder of Webnames.ca, Canada’s Original Domain Registrar. She is on the Boards of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, Small Business BC, Government of BC Small Business Roundtable and the Vancouver Economic Development Commission. More information is available at cybele.tel or webnames.tel. Follow on Twitter @cybelenegris and @webnames

By Cybele Negris

I will be doing a series of posts about the Vancouver Small Business community and how companies and their owners are taking advantage of the Olympics as billions around the world cast their eyes onto Vancouver.

Last week, I went to pick up five-year service awards which I had ordered for two of my employees. I have used Eclipse Awards (they specialize in personalized crystal awards, sustainable awards, wall plaques and gifts) for many years because they are local, they produce a great product, have very quick turnaround times, great service and they are socially conscious. Their CEO Toby Barazzuol has a company wide environmental action plan and is also Chair of the Strathcona BIA Sustainability Committee.

With my interest to see how local businesses are leveraging off the Olympics, I asked Toby to answer some questions about how the Olympics is affecting his business.

1. What has Eclipse Awards done to prepare for the Olympics? Did you change staff work hours to allow for them to attend events or to avoid traffic?

Most Eclipse Awards clients are located outside of Vancouver, so our business won’t change that much.  We’re located in Strathcona as well, so there aren’t many road or travel restrictions.   Of course I definitely plan on closing the office and taking the staff out a few times while the games are here – can’t forget about having fun!

2. Are you seeing any additional business as a result of the Olympics? 

Though we bid on a few projects in the lead up to the Olympics, none of them really worked out for us, so we took a wait and see approach to see if anything new would emerge closer to the games.  Recently though, we’ve done a few awards projects, using our newly designed green awards for VANOC’s Sustainability Champion Awards, and our LEED plaques for green buildings, including the Richmond Olympic Oval.

3. In your opinion, will VANOC live up to the goal of the “greenest games ever”?

Though there is still room for huge improvements, I think that VANOC has done a great job of raising the bar on sustainability.  No doubt these will be the greenest games ever, and hopefully, there will be even greener games in the future.  I think VANOC’s greenest legacy will be instilling a deep sense of Canadian pride around sustainability, while also branding Vancouver as a green leader in the world’s eyes.

4. As a small business in BC, what do you think the Olympics will do for Vancouver’s business community?

It will definitely have a mixed effect.  I don’t know many small businesses that have direct contracts with VANOC, however I’m sure that there are many that will benefit from the influx of people and attention being focused on Vancouver during the Olympics.  There will also be some that suffer because of disrupted traffic patterns or poor attitudes.  Overall though, I think it’s a unique event in our city’s history and I hope that the shared experience will make our small businesses more stronger, knowing we can compete with the best in the world.

5. Are you attending any of the networking or sporting events?

I don’t have tickets to any sporting events, but I’m planning on spending time with friends and checking out as much as possible.  I’m really just looking forward to walking around the city and feeling the amazing energy in our streets – there’s something special when this many people get together in celebration!

Toby was kind enough to show me around his production facility and I was excited to see the green roof that I have heard so much about.  They built it using refurbished deck materials and recycled materials throughout. From their roof, you can see the large cruise ship being used as accommodations during the Olympics. Check out some of the photos and the view from the green roof.

More info about Eclipse Awards: EclipseAwards.tel

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Preparing your Business Before the Olympics  by Cybele Negris
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Cybele Negris is Co-Founder of Webnames.ca, Canada's Original Domain Registrar. She is on the Boards of the Forum for Women Entrepreneurs, Small Business BC, Government of BC Small Business Roundtable and the Vancouver Economic Development Commission. More information is available at cybele.tel or webnames.tel. Follow on Twitter @cybelenegris and @webnames