Tokyo’s pitch for the 2020 Olympics is running with Weber Shandwick, which also handled the country’s 2016 bid.
Tokyo was tapped May 23 as a candidate city for the Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games, providing a lift as Japan rebuilds in the aftermath of the 2011 earthquake and nuclear crisis. It squares off against Istanbul and Madrid.
Tokyo 2020 communications director Tokuaki Suzuki |
“The agency's broad international perspective and deep understanding of our strong desire to host the Games will serve us well in our bidding journey,” bid president Tsunekazu Takeda said in a statement.
Tokuaki Suzuki, a veteran of the international soccer circuit, joined Tokyo 2020 in April as communications director. Suzuki, who is fluent in Japanese and English and speaks French, Spanish and Portuguese, works alongside acting communications director Masa Takaya and Ayano Egami, head of online and social Media who was a silver medallist in synchronised swimming in Sydney 2000.
WS, which has worked several Olympic bids and Games over the past two decades, scored an Olympic win for Sochi, Russia, for the 2014 Winter Games.
The firm worked with Tokyo through the applicant phase and was tapped as global PR agency to support its overall communications strategy. Tokyo last hosted the Summer Games in 1964.
The winner of the 2020 Games will be announced by the International Olympic Committee on Sept. 7, 2013 in Buenos Aires, the city which edged Tokyo in the 2016 competition.