I’m a fan of the Olympics and I wondered what it would be like to be there as a marketer so I checked in with Janet Fletcher, the marketing director at P&G. She had arrived Feb. 9 in charge of running the P&G Family Home, a four-story conference center transformed into a branded gathering place for U.S. athletes and their families.

Janet had already scored a pair of those cute must-have red mittens sporting the white maple leaf on the palm and—overcome as people do up there with Olympic excitement—wore mostly patriotic colors.



“I’ve completely gone red white and blue,” she said.

At The Home her job is to create a home away from home for visitors. She spends lots of time meeting, greeting and touring. So much so, that she was affectionately nicknamed Julie McCoy. (You’ll remember her as the perky cruise director from “The Love Boat.)

“I’d like to think that this is more than just welcoming and mingling with people and making sure they have a good experience,” she told me. “ It’s also about bringing the experience of the Olympic Games and athletes to a broader audience outside of Vancouver.”

In addition to orchestrating all of the activities in The House she is responsible for bringing the experience of the Olympic Games and U.S. athletes to a broader audience outside of Vancouver. And she was doing that starting at 3 am.

There she was at “The Today Show’s” live location, handing out T-shirts and trying to extend her 5-foot frame to get enough height so viewers could see the signs she waved promoting the “Thank Mom” program.

She ended up in the “Today Show” Green Room where she ran into American skater Evan Licecheck, who had just hours before won a gold medal and was wearing it around his neck. (Licecheck’s mom had watched him win from The Family Home).

“Oh my goodness, I have a picture [of the medal],” she said. “I didn’t touch it though. It is huge and they’re beautiful.”

How did she end up in the Green Room?

“We have a lot of connections with “The Today Show” they have helped us with our media integrations. Dick Ebersol [chairman, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics] helped us with our advertising campaign he looked at it and provided input. He loved the idea of a company focusing on moms. Most companies that come to the Olympics focus on the athletes.

By 5 am she was running a discussion about what had happened over last 24 hours in Vancouver pouring over ad impressions, PR activities, what media coverage P&G was getting and how the social media efforts were working.

“This has been an interesting model, what I call live brand building. If an opportunity arises to host a family celebration because an athlete has won a medal, we make adjustments to accommodate an intimate celebration.”

At 8 am she checked in with P&G chief marketing officer Marc Pritchard.

By 9:30 an operations meeting was underway with the key managers overseeing the 150 employees working at The Home. Schedules, meal planning, every detail is addressed hour by hour to make sure everything was ready operationally.

“We make sure everyone from top to bottom understands what’s going on,” she said. “One thing I learned is that the families are not allowed in the Olympic Village. The only way they can see them is if they have tickets to the events, so we have become a place where they have reunions.”

At 11, lunch service begins and Janet walks The House to chat with the families. Soon after, her time is filled with media interviews and giving tours.

The dinner bell rings at 5 pm and Janet is out and about mingling again. The Family House provides lunch and dinner for free to Team USA athletes and their families. The day before 700 meals had been served.

By 7 pm things begin to quiet down. Once an Olympic event begins Janet grabs a plate of food and takes it to the Round Room where she sits down with the families.

11 to 11:30 lights out.

On Feb. 23, Janet headed back to Cincinnati. Back to the office, the routine and the kids.

“It’s long days, but a very good experience,” Janet said.