Jack Morton was appointed to the work after a seven-month pitch process, which included agencies from within Greece and throughout Europe. The agency's pitch was lead by Jack Morton's European office, based in London, and included the team that has worked on previous international sporting events.
It will now work with Dimitris Papaioannou, who is the concept creator and artistic director of ceremonies for the Olympic Games.
Jack Morton has been behind other events such as last year's Commonwealth Games opening ceremony in Manchester and the Salt Lake 2002 Winter Paralympic Games ceremonies. Fellow Interpublic agency Octagon helped Beijing with its bid to become the host city for the 2008 Olympics.
The opening ceremonies for Olympic Games have increasingly become about trying to outdo the efforts of previous host cities. Famous moments from the past two decades of games include 84 pianists playing Gershwin on 84 grand pianos in the 1984 opening ceremony in Los Angeles; an archer lighting the Olympic torch in Barcelona 1988; and Muhammad Ali bearing the torch in Atlanta in 1996.
The closing ceremony in the 2000 games in Sydney featured icons of kitsch Australian culture such as Crocodile Dundee, Kylie Minogue and a bevy of drag queens.
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