THE TEN MOST DISRUPTIVE IDEAS FROM THE PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS.

??La France, c’est la diversité dans l’unité?? (“France is diversity in unity”). When I quoted the famous French sociologist Edgard Morin a month ago in a post in French titled “And if we finally focused on what unites us”, I did not imagine the extent to which this sentence would come to life two weeks later. I hope you were able to appreciate, as much as I did, this enchanting quote that encapsulated the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. A Parisian atmosphere like I had never felt before, both cosmopolitan and good-natured, where the notion of worldwide fraternity could be felt everywhere - in stadiums and outside, in fan zones or in the streets. A success experienced in the city by those who were lucky enough to be there, but also a success from a distance: more than half of the world's population followed the Paris 2024 Games, which generated more than 12 billion in engagements on social networks. This success is due to multiple factors, some of which are structural: the magic of the concept of the Olympic Games which works when the public is present en masse each time, regardless of the host city; perfect organization - from transport to security, including the fluidity of ticketing and the massive presence of volunteers - and finally athletes who give the best of themselves, helping us feel their emotions, through their victories but also their defeats. With these factors being common to the success of all the Olympic Games, the organizers of Paris 2024, under the brilliant leadership of Tony Estanguet, were able to create a unique event which will mark the history of the Games forever, because they had the audacity to trust creativity, the enterprise to challenge a certain number of conventions and adopt a resolutely disruptive approach. Here are the ten most disruptive ideas, which highlight the unique nature of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which contributed to its extraordinary success in creating “The most open games in history”. Do not hesitate to add in the comments ideas which could have escaped my analysis! As any good “killer idea” can be expressed by a “What if?”, so here are my top 10 expressed by the formula “What if?”, formulated through the convention/disruption format that we use, at TBWA, to express disruptive ideas.

1? WHAT IF THE ENTIRE CITY WAS THE GAMES PLAYGROUND?

CONVENTION: The events will take place in a dedicated Olympic Park.

DISRUPTION: The entire city of Paris will be transformed into a venue for the Olympics.

This is probably the foundational idea that will remain permanently associated with the Paris 2024 Games and will definitively change the way we look at the Games. This began with the iconic Eiffel Tower as a backdrop from start to finish, from the opening ceremony to the finishing line of the cycling race. From the incredible beach volleyball stadium on the Champ de Mars to the Grand Palais being the stunning venue for fencing events - the entire city of Paris formed the Olympic Park, showcasing its extraordinary architectural heritage and bringing the Games to life for all Parisians who had not left the city.

2 - WHAT IF THE SEINE BECAME THE STAGE FOR THE OPENING CEREMONY?

CONVENTION: The opening ceremony takes place in a stadium dedicated to athletics.

DISRUPTION: The opening ceremony will take place on the Seine, far from the stadium.

You don't get two chances to make a good first impression. The opening ceremony set the stage for the Paris 2024 Games, creating conditions for a unique, never-before-seen event. It was a double success for the organizers, both in terms of the safety and the creativity of the show conceived by Thomas Jolly and masterfully orchestrated by Thierry Reboul. I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate the Paname24 teams, the executive production team for both the Olympic and Para-Olympic opening ceremonies, which brings together five major French event agencies and is headed by my friends from Auditoire (the TBWA Group event agency headed by Cyril Giorgini and Cyril de Froissard), who have been on board since February 2022 to meet this challenge.

3 ? WHAT IF PARIS’ HISTORICAL HERITAGE WAS AT THE SERVICE OF SPORT?

CONVENTION: The sporting events take place in dedicated sports arenas. ?

DISRUPTION: The most iconic historic monuments will host the events.

I attended the first day of fencing at the Grand Palais and felt the magic of the blend between an architecturally exceptional venue and high-level sporting events. I'd also like to pay tribute to the quality of the venue's scenography, embellished by the beautiful graphic charter of the games (created by the W&Cie agency teams headed by Denis Gancel and Gilles Deléris). I couldn’t physically attend the events held at the Chateau de Versailles, but the equestrian scenarios were also unique, as were the BMX images at the Concorde. A unique way of linking today's Games with history through France's architectural heritage.

4 ? WHAT IF THE OLYMPIC FLAME WERE CARBON-NEUTRAL?

CONVENTION: The Olympic flame burns gas in a cauldron in the stadium.

DISRUPTION: The Olympic flame will be electric in a hot-air balloon cauldron.

This was perhaps one of the biggest surprises from the Paris 2024 Games. A symbolic element capable of rivaling the most beautiful monuments in Paris, from the Eiffel Tower to the Louvre Pyramid. A design perfectly executed thanks to the great talent of Mathieu Lehanneur, and a technological feat by the EDF Innovation teams to create the first carbon-free flame, using forty LED projectors and two hundred high-pressure misting nozzles. It was such a success that many people are calling for this symbol, originally intended to be transient, to be made permanent.

5 ? WHAT IF THE WHOLE TOWN WERE TO BENEFIT FROM THE CYCLING RACES?

CONVENTION: The race circuit's best spots are ticketed.

DISRUPTION: The cycle race will go through the whole city and the best seats will be free.

Of course, the most popular French cycle race, the Tour de France, has been leading the way by bringing the race to the Champs élysées in Paris since 1975. But the organizers of the Paris 2024 Olympics have taken the idea of cycling in the city a step further, by taking the race through the narrow streets of Montmartre, allowing more Parisians to enjoy it in a unique setting. This created the conditions for a collective enthusiasm that was contagious on social networks.

6 ? WHAT IF THE OLYMPIC MARATHON WASN'T JUST FOR CHAMPIONS?

CONVENTION: The Olympic Games marathon brings together the best champions in the discipline.

DISRUPTION: A "Marathon for All" will allow amateurs to experience the thrill of the Olympic marathon.

Another popular success for an idea inspired by the vision of an event "open to all": 17,361 amateur runners for the marathon and 16,440 runners for the 10-kilometre race set off on Saturday night, giving thousands of spectators who cheered them on an experience that was both sporting and festive.

7 - WHAT IF SPORTS EVENTS TOOK CUES FROM THEATER ?

CONVENTION: Sport is a game that starts with a whistle.

DISRUPTION: The sporting events will start with the "three knocks" of theatre.

The organizers of Paris 2024 have drawn inspiration from the world of theatre to accentuate the staging of the show at the start of each event, by asking well-known and lesser-known sportsmen and women to symbolically blow the “three knocks” at the start of each event. It's a way of paying tribute to the art of drama and comedy in the land of Molière, calling for the audience's attention and respect.

8 ? WHAT IF MUSIC ENRICHED THE SPORTING EXPERIENCE?

CONVENTION: Sport is played in silence to the sound of applause and encouragement from the spectators.

DISRUPTION: Sport is even better with music.

From the “hymn to love” sung by Céline Dion at the first floor of the Eiffel Tower during the opening ceremony, to "Que je t'aime" from famous French singer Johnny Hallyday, played at the end of the matches won by the French athletes, "Higher", designed by Victor Le Masne for the ceremony, or "Freed from desire", one of the fans' favorite songs, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games gave music a place of pride. There were real DJs in every venue to entertain the audience, and break dance performances during the half-times of team sports. A special mention goes to the beach volleyball DJ, Tony Rojas, who had the brilliant idea of playing John Lennon's "Imagine" as the final between Brazil and Canada turned into a tangle.? A prime case of music not only strengthening people's spirits, but also getting them excited!

9 ? WHAT IF EVEN THE MEDALS HAD A UNIQUE TASTE?

CONVENTION: Most medals from the Olympic Games appear similar.

DISRUPTION: The medals will contain a piece of the Eiffel Tower.

Every detail counts in affirming the uniqueness of the Paris 2024 Olympics. Even the medals. Each of the 5084 medals awarded will contain 18 grams of Eiffel Tower in the shape of a hexagon, giving them a unique Parisian “flavor”. It may seem like a small detail to you, but to the athletes, it meant a lot!

10? WHAT IF A FAN ZONE BECAME THE HEARTBEAT OF THE GAMES?

CONVENTION: A fan zone echoes the main events for those who can’t attend.

DISRUPTION: Club France at La Villette will provide the most intense experience of the Olympic Games.

Designed as an experience, enriched by the daily presence of the media and medal-winning athletes, Club France at La Villette has proved to be much more than just a fan zone relaying the event for those who can't get to the stadiums. It became an ultra-popular destination, part of the events each day, and where the collective communion was often the most intense. More than 467,500 tickets (€5 a ticket) were sold, and if we add accredited people, athletes and guests, more than 600,000 people took advantage of it. Peak attendance was 21,800 on Saturday evening for the France/USA men's basketball final.

TEN DISRUPTIVE IDEAS SERVING A UNIQUE VISION: THE MOST WIDE OPEN OLYMPIC GAMES EVER.

These ten disruptive ideas have helped to make the Paris 2024 Olympic Games an exceptional event that will leave a mark not only on our memories but also will go down in the history of the Games beyond the sporting performances. Not to forget what is probably the most important one: ‘What if women’s sports were treated equally as they deserved?” From the opening ceremony celebrating the great women of history, to the perfectly equal numbers of male and female athletes seen for the first time in Olympic history, to the rise of mixed-gender events across various sports, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games have been the games of gender equality. Spectators were just as excited about the USA vs France men’s basketball final as they were about the USA vs France women’s basketball final the following day!Each of these disruptive ideas was at the service of a genuine vision, that of organizing the most open Games in history. Openness as a state of mind inspiring many coherent initiatives. The signature of the Paris 2024 Olympics: "Games Wide Open", is much more than a slogan. It reflects the desire to do more to share the emotions of the Games with as many people as possible, with Games that are more responsible, inclusive and spectacular than ever. This openness was expressed throughout the ceremony in terms of both content and form, through the exceptional venues, through new events such as break dancing, in the events open to the general public, in the torch relay and Games territories, in the number of volunteers mobilized, in the absolute parity of the athletes, and even in the ambition for popular success of the Paralympic Games, aimed at helping people to change the way they look and think ?about disabilities.

There can be no effective disruption without an inspiring vision.

What if the value of ‘openness’ was the greatest contribution from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games to society and the planet?

This is both my hope and my wish.

Now is the time to make a great succes of the Paralympic Games which start on August 28th and end on September 8th !