Around the Rings to Field Biggest Team Ever

London, July 28, 2012: The 2012 Olympics kicked off just hours ago, but Around the Rings had been on the ground for weeks in London with its biggest team ever for a Summer Games. ATR editor Ed Hula will lead a force of nine correspondents who will cover every aspect of the Games via print, web, and social media.

London 2012 is widely touted as the first digital and social Games, with Twitter predicted to be the “battlefield” of Olympic coverage — and Around the Rings is in prime position to deliver, with a dedicated Twitter feed from its correspondents available at AroundTheRings.com.

“Our correspondents will Tweet everywhere they go – competition, hospitality events, sponsor pavilions, news conferences and from the streets of London,” Hula said. “We’ll also employ other new delivery platforms such as Facebook, Google+ and Pinterest. Behind it all will be the same high quality content readers have come to expect on our website and in our Games-time printed editions.”

The ATR team consists of Editor Ed Hula, European editor Mark Bisson, Americas correspondent Karen Rosen, Norman Li of ATR’s Chinese partner Tencent, and reporters Christian Radnedge, Ed Hula III, Matthew Grayson, Bob Mackin Jr., and Matt Horn. ATR’s coverage will be based in its office in the Main Press Centre as well as from the London media centre.

Follow ATR correspondents on Twitter:

• Ed Hula Jr: EHula_ATR

• Mark Bisson: MBisson_ATR

• Christian Radnedge: CRadnedge_ATR

• Edward Hula III: EHula3_ATR

• Matthew Grayson: MGrayson_ATR

• Norman Li: NormanLi

Social media has given ATR the means to develop a new audience of young Olympic fans, says Publisher Sheila Scott Hula.

“We set 10,000 ‘likes’ as our target for Games-time,” she said, “so we were quite surprised and pleased when we surpassed that mark nearly a month ahead of schedule. We now expect to have 20,120 fans before the first weekend of competition ends.”

ATR published its first printed daily Games-time editions in Sydney. In London, it will publish magazines every other day, beginning July 28. These magazines will be distributed at the Main Press Centre, the International Broadcast Centre, at official hotels and via hospitality providers, among other key locations.

“Despite the remarkable shift to digital content, we find people still value something they can actually hold in their hands,” said Sheila Hula. “Our sponsors tell us it is still one of the best ways to communicate their message to decision-makers in the Olympic Family.”

The magazines will also be available free of charge online to all ATR website visitors, thus extending their reach worldwide. —- ATR