Sochi 2014

In summer 2007 at an IOC session in Guatemala, Russia won the right to host the Olympic Winter Games for the first time in history. This epochal event will be held in the city of Sochi at the Black Sea coast.

The Organizational Committee decided they needed to capitalize on the symbolically powerful February 2010 closing ceremony of the XXI Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. On that day, the Canadians would hand over the Olympic Flag to the Russians and Sochi would become the official capital of the next Winter Olympiad. And at the same ceremony, Russia would unveil the new Olympic brand to the world.

To create a brand of equally international and Russian domestic importance like the Olympic Winter Games, Interbrand set up a team of professionals from across 12 of its offices in Europe, Asia Pacific, and North America. They were asked to find the right balance between creativity, the “Russia” brand, and “Sochi 2014.”

The team introduced three daring innovations. The Olympic Games do not have a logo, only a word mark—this, for the first time since Mexico 1968. The word mark is accompanied by the ".ru" Russian national Internet domain extension to underline the innovative character of the games and its relevance for the whole country. And to convey dynamism and for potential extension into 2D, 3D, and 4D, the visual identity of the brand is inspired by the idea of traditional Russian patterns, re-interpreted in a modern way.

The word mark itself reflects the brand idea of duality–duality of the Russian soul, duality of Sochi’s subtropic seashore, and snowy mountains. Overall it conveys the mystery of Russia as a unified country of fascinating contrasts: Europe and Asia; huge cities and the deserted Siberian tundra; Russian brainpower combined with a highly emotional temperament; cold weather and hot hearts. All this combined with a very strong Russian call to action: ПОЕХАЛИ! (POEKHALI!).

Declared almost 50 years ago by Yuri Gagarin, at the launch of the rocket that would make him the first man in space, the phrase epitomized the immense symbolic power of that event. The project team believes “ПОЕХАЛИ!” will once again energize the whole nation to pull together and open a new page in the country’s history–The Olympic Winter Games.

The national launch took place on the Red Square on November 30th 2009. Top government, business and international top officials, such as President Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and President of the International Olympic Committee Jacques Rogge were in attendance. The international launch will happen in Vancouver in February 2010.