Mark Mitten, Chicago 2016 Olympics Committee, Marketing and Brand Strategy

The Talk: Marketing and brand strategy of the bid for the Chicago 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Mark Mitten, Chief Brand Officer from Chicago 2016
Bill Bulman, User Experience Director from OgilvyOne
Jim Marcus, Interactive Creative Director from OgilvyOne

Senior vice president of Marketing and Legacy for Chicago 2016.

In this role Mark Mitten oversees the marketing and brand strategy of the bid, including creating and producing all the videos. Mark has been a member of the 2016 team since the bids inception in 2006.

Prior to joining Chicago 2016, Mitten was a producer for Mark Burnett Productions and in this capacity produced episodes and structured integration deals for NBCs hit television series, The Apprentice, during seasons two and three. Mark worked directly with clients such as P&G, Pepsi and Pontiac, among others.

In 2000 Mark joined McKinsey & Company as a principal in the Chicago office, where he was one the leaders of its North American marketing practice. There he developed business strategies with a focus on driving growth for CEOs of leading Fortune 100 consumer-package-goods, retail, technology and media companies.

Before joining McKinsey, Mark cofounded Envision, a brand strategy consultancy, in 1994. He worked with clients including Nike, Microsoft, the United States Olympic Committee, The Weather Channel, Gateway Computers, FOX, Discovery Channel, Allstate, Gatorade and Kinkos. McKinsey & Company acquired Envision in 2000.

Mark started his marketing career at J. Walter Thompson after earning his masters from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a BA from Miami University of Ohio. In addition, Mark created a not-for-profit movement called Aspire. Inspire.TM (www.AspireInspire.com). The project was awarded the USOCs first Youth Values Award at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic Winter Games.

Mark was also a lead contributor to Blueprint to a Billion, a 2006 best-selling book revealing the strategic essentials for maximizing business growth.

Additional Olympic experience includes working on the USOC brand strategy, providing strategic branding direction for the NYC2012 bid and creating the original Chicago 2016 strategic presentation.