While the conservative and liberal media continue to go at each other regarding Chicago's loss of its bid to host the 2016 Olympics, they should give it a rest and look at the International Olympic Committee's decision from a branding perspective. The folks who were in charge of the Olympics branding strategy in Rio de Janeiro did a phenomenal job of differentiating Rio's promise from the other cities in contention, and then clearly establishing its relevance to the IOC. In other words, the "Brand Rio" team followed a couple of the basic rules of smart brand management and came out the category leader as a result.
