Peacock Takes Winter Olympics Effectiveness Gold

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With a double ice hockey triumph for Team USA bringing the Winter Olympics to an end, we can take a look at the brands that topped our own medal table – in particular the winner of System1’s Test Your Ad Star Rating Gold, Peacock TV.

Peacock’s ad was their opportunity to get viewers hyped for the event as a whole, and they chose to focus on one single Olympics story: the extraordinary return of downhill skier Lindsey Vonn, eight years after her initial retirement. Vonn’s fairytale comeback came to a sad end on the slopes, though thankfully she’s now recovering from the accident that almost cost her a leg. But the Peacock ad, and our Test Your Ad test, came out before that, and the results reflect Vonn’s inspirational story as a whole.

Peacock’s heart-tugging commercial was our only 5-Star Winter Olympics ad, getting a 5.0-Star Rating showing exceptional brand-building potential. The ad’s top score reflects the wisdom of focusing on an individual athlete rather than a montage. While montages can capture the breadth and excitement of the Games, an individual story gives casual viewers a hook that really makes them feel more, and a comeback story like Vonn’s was the perfect pre-event choice.

But Peacock’s ad doesn’t perform as well on either Brand Fluency – rapid and accurate recognition – or our short-term Spike Rating. This is often the case for TV brands, where the brand identity of the channel can get lost alongside what’s being advertised. In the case of a huge event like the Winter Olympics, that’s fine, as it’s the event that matters. But for consumer brands Fluency and Spike matter a lot, so let’s welcome the medal winners in those categories to the System1 podium too.

The Spike Rating gold goes to Hershey’s for “The Real Gold”, their two minute online video about Team USA athletes seeing their parents talk about their pride and love for them, and how their happiness is more important than their success. The ad also scores a strong 4.3-Star alongside its exceptional, top-scoring Spike Rating, predicting a major sales boost from the ad if given the right investment. The secret for Hershey’s is the intense emotion the ad creates in its audience, with an element of sadness as the athletes’ cry at the video messages, alongside the final surge of happiness.

And our final medal is the Fluency gold, which goes to Starbucks, for their Exceptional performance not just on Brand Fluency but Fast Fluency too. Their ad, “The Coffee Run”, is recognisable as a whole but also within the opening seconds, because of the strong branding on the Starbucks cups which feature throughout. The ad is a funny story of a guy who has to go up and down a mountain to deliver the Olympians their coffee order, and then has to do it again when he misses something out. The branding never gets in the way of the entertainment, and this was a 4.4-Star ad, highly effective in the long term as well as recognisable.

An inspiring individual story, an emotional slalom, and fast, effective branding – the three ways our Winter Olympic medal winners took gold. If you’re interested in digging deeper into the specific ways brands can effectively advertise around sports events like the Winter Olympics, check out our extensive The Sports Dividend report. Meanwhile, welcome three new ads to the sporting effectiveness Hall Of Fame.