Bell, a Premier National Partner and the Exclusive Telecommunications Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, today announced its signature supporting sponsorship of the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay and the launch of the animated Bell Virtual Torch for mobile devices and computers.
The Bell Virtual Torch is a symbolic representation of the actual Olympic Flame, which was lit this morning by the power of the sun in Olympia, Greece. On October 30, the Olympic Flame will arrive in Canada and begin its 45,000-kilometre journey across the country through more than 1,000 communities in every province and territory.
“The Bell Virtual Torch, like the Olympic Flame, is unique and offers Canadians the opportunity to share in the Olympic experience by carrying the flame on their computers or mobile phones,” said Loring Phinney, Vice President, Corporate and Olympic Marketing for Bell. “As the Exclusive Telecommunications Partner to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, Bell is proud to connect every Canadian to the Games.”
Starting today, the Bell Virtual Torch will be available to download as a screen saver or as wallpaper for any mobile phone. The Bell Virtual Torch is an animated .gif file and is available on the Bell Vancouver 2010 portal located at bell.ca/vancouver. Visitors to the site can choose to download the screen saver or visit bellvirtualtorch.mobi on their mobile device to download the Bell Virtual Torch wallpaper to their phones.
Bell customers can also text the word “torch” or “flambeau” to 2044 to receive instructions on how to download the Bell Virtual Torch. Anyone who downloads the Bell Virtual Torch can share it with others by simply forwarding the received text message (standard text and data fees apply).
Throughout the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, Canadians will also be able to visit a special Vancouver 2010 section of the sympatico.ca portal to view videos and exclusive editorial content about the event. Visitors can upload their photos to a Bell Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay e-card, and send it to friends and family to share the Olympic Torch Relay experience. Torchbearers will be able to use the site to upload and share photos and videos and to link this content to their Facebook profiles.
During the 2010 Winter Games, every image you see on television, every story read around the world and every real-time score transmitted will traverse a communications solution designed by Bell. Bell’s dedicated 2010 Olympic network will deliver the Games to Canada and to more than three billion viewers around the world.
