Brad Copeland, president and CEO of Midtown brand design firm Iconologic, received a call in 1988 from a client who said Atlanta lawyer Billy Payne needed an Olympic-themed poster developed in a day.

Payne was pitching Atlanta as the Summer Games' host city, a far-fetched idea at the time. Copeland produced the poster — a peach that morphed into the Olympic flame. He has been working on the Olympics ever since. He helped develop bid books submitted to the International Olympic Committee by Atlanta, Istanbul and Stockholm.

Courtesy of Iconologic (ENLARGE)

With the Olympics under way in China, television viewers and visitors will see the handiwork of Atlanta's Iconologic.

Joe Guy Collier/jcollier@ajc.com (ENLARGE)

CEO Brad Copeland got his start with the Games with Atlanta's bid. He is the International Olympic Committee's look of the Games adviser.

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Iconologic played a key role in developing the visuals for the 2006 Turin Winter Games. It has done Olympic work this year for Coca-Cola Co. and Volkswagen AG.

Copeland, 56, also is the look of the Games adviser to the International Olympic Committee. He's in Beijing through much of the Games, checking out more than 50 venues to make sure all the design elements look perfect for the TV audience and ticket holders.

Q: What was your initial reaction when you got the call 20 years ago to develop a poster for Atlanta's Olympic bid?

A: I will say I had doubts about taking the assignment because of the deadline. Did I really want to get involved in this thing, doing it so fast?

Q: What do you think about the poster request now?

A: I give Billy [Payne] credit for everything that's happened to us. He was an Atlanta lawyer, an ex-Georgia football player and a dreamer. Nothing great ever happens without somebody that believes in something and wants something to happen.

Q: How did the poster lead to other work?

A: [Payne] came back to us after we did that poster to do the logo. He came back to us after the logo to do the bid books. Everything was connected. It changed my life.

Q: What does a look of the Games adviser do?

A: On one level, you're looking to mentor [the Olympic cities] through the process [from the time the Games are announced to when they are held]. On another level, I'll go and do an analysis during the Games. ... Where were the high points? Where were the low points? What would be the learnings that we want the next Winter Games or Summer Games to know?

Q: What are you looking for as you tour the city and the venues?

A: The most important thing is the field of play — what it looks like on TV. You want the billions of people that are watching on television to come away with the feeling, "That's a beautiful Olympic Games. That's an incredible Olympic atmosphere." The second audience is the spectators. They've paid a lot of money for a ticket. As they move into the venue, you want them to say, "Wow, this is a great Olympic venue."

Q: So the dramatic pictures of an athlete with an Olympic banner in the background don't happen by accident?

A: Part of what makes the Olympic Games valuable is this idea of a clean venue. The only brands that are on the field of play are the brand of the organizing committee and the brand of the IOC. If we can put those elements in a beautiful way in the right places, then you'll see wonderful photographs of a skier jumping and the Olympic rings are right there.

Q: What's the biggest challenge of creating the Olympic look?

A: Cities get so excited and it's not just one city government. [Olympic venues span many municipalities.] ... Somebody has to be able to get them to understand that it's not in their interest to do their own thing — to clutter things up with junk. This is your one time to be the Olympic city. You'd be surprised at how hard it is to tamp down people's excitement and get them to understand the benefits of sending one message to the world.

Q: Iconologic also is doing work for Mission Hills, a 216-hole golf club in China. How has your Olympic work helped open doors in China?

A: People view us over there in a different light than if we're just a really good Atlanta branding company. ... I've been able through that process of working with BCOG [the Beijing Committee for the Olympic Games] for six years to develop a network of design talent in [Chinese] companies.

Q: Do you see more opportunities in China?

A: Branding, image and PR are things that seem to me are quite new over there. ... I think there's going to be a demand for some really high-level — global, international-level — branding that right now is more in its infancy. It's not that there isn't the talent right now. There's plenty of talent, but the awareness is going to be raised by the Games.