Brands & Nations Set To Lock Horns at Paris 2024. Who’ll Come Away With Gold?
Ah… the joy of an international sporting event. Is there anything quite like it? For millions, they bring color to our shared culture as the years come and go.
Because sports provide the hope, the jubilation, and sometimes the heartache – the memories – of a collective zeitgeist, at a specific moment in our lives.
Le Tour de France; The Masters; The Super Bowl; The FIFA World Cup; The US Open; people invest emotionally in sporting spectacles. Each, in its way, is a celebration – an occasion to be remembered, long after the tents are packed away and the circus has left town.
And within that tapestry of major sports events, does it get any grander than the Olympic Games?
It’s all eyes on Paris, then, for summer 2024.
What It Means To Market at The Olympics
Marketing at the Olympics is unlike any other advertising opportunity.
With more than 3 billion people tuning in for Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024 is expected to garner even greater global attention. For brands, this translates to one, Olympic-sized opportunity: an unparalleled platform to showcase stories, creativity, and values on a world stage.
In a Games defined largely by COVID impacts and aftershocks, the delayed Tokyo games saw the USA, China, and Japan top the medal chart. These nations – along with other perennial contenders like Great Britain, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and France – will have their sights firmly set on a coveted podium position.
Similarly, the brands you’d expect to see were out in full force and pomp – the likes of Nike, VISA, Google, Toyota, and the IOC itself, among others – offering an array of resonant, far-reaching ads and brand storytelling efforts.
Toyota: Jessica Long Upstream
Stakes are high, and potential rewards immense. Brands need to deliver campaigns that not only captivate but also resonate deeply with diverse audiences – that means crafting narratives that tap into the universal emotions of hope, triumph, and national pride that the Olympics evoke.
To help your brand achieve this, we’ve analyzed the Test Your Ad database to uncover what makes top Olympics and sporting ads really shine. For the full research and report, you can download The Gold Standard for free now.
Or read on as we unpack just one (of the five) elements of a top sporting ad: achieving a truly global appeal.
Crossing the Lines That Divide Us
The Olympics is a unique global event, uniting viewers from practically every corner of the world. It’s an unparalleled opportunity for brands to create campaigns that transcend language and cultural barriers; finding impact with a genuinely global audience.
With perhaps the FIFA World Cup excepted, the Olympic Games attract larger viewing figures than any other sporting event: young, old, men, and women, from myriad cultural backgrounds.
But this incredible reach comes with significant challenges. Crafting ads that appeal ubiquitously requires an artful communication of:
- Universal human truths,
- Common experiences,
- And shared emotions.
In other words, brands must find and communicate a universal truth that speaks to everyone, regardless of cultural context. This often means leaning into powerful visuals, music, and storytelling that convey the message without relying heavily on dialogue.
Family – Is There Anything More Relatable?
One shining example is P&G’s iconic Thank You, Mom campaign, originally from the London 2012 Summer Olympics. This campaign perfectly encapsulates the hope, dedication, and occasional heartbreak inherent in raising an athlete.
By focusing on the journey of mothers and their children, P&G tapped into a powerful, universal truth: the love and sacrifice of family.
P&G: Thank You, Mom
This emotionally charged narrative resonated deeply with viewers around the globe, making it more than an ad: Thank You, Mom became a heartfelt family tribute that connected viewers on a human level.
The campaign’s success was phenomenal, achieving massive reach both online and on TV. P&G continued to build on this success for years, solidifying it as the single most effective ad in their over 100-year history.
In fact, when we tested a decade’s worth of Cannes Lions winners in 2019, Thank You, Mom stood head and shoulders above the rest for its raw emotional impact. And that appeal still endures, built on a universal message transcending cultural boundaries: the unwavering support and love of family.
A Salute To Those Who Came Before
Amidst the not-insignificant hurdle of hosting the first COVID-era Games in 2021, the IOC crafted What Agnes Saw.
It’s a poignant tear-jerker – throwing one eye back on iconic Olympic moments from yesteryear, and one eye forward to the inspiring athletes writing their own names into the history books of tomorrow.
The IOC: 100-year-old Olympian will get you inspired for Tokyo 2020
The IOC links the oldest surviving gold medalist, Agnes Keleti – who, as a Jewish Hungarian, won a slew of gymnastics medals either side of World War 2 – with the promising young athletes of the 2020 Games, including then 15 year-old British skateboarder Sky Brown.
The ad weaves a narrative celebrating the enduring legacy, shared light, and undying hope of the Olympic spirit with a rising, violin-led soundtrack that’s bound to leave even the sternest judges dabbing their eyes. As a piece of commercial storytelling, it really is a thing of beauty.
And yes, granted – there is an English voiceover. But with that powerful soundtrack, and consistency of visual messaging, the ad practically transcends translation. Speakers of English or not: audiences just ‘get’ the ad, at a level that’s deeper than language.
Here, the IOC created an ad that transcended cultural and temporal boundaries. Little wonder it earned it a 5-Star rating on Test Your Ad. Where P&G united viewers in a homage to family values, The IOC brings us together across generations; showing how, by looking back, we inspire the future.
The Gold Standard
In the grand arena of the Olympic Games, amid the fervor, the theater, and the spectacle, the most memorable moments – athletic or commercial – are those that strike a chord with universal human emotions.
They remind us of our shared experiences, dreams, and values.
Those moments transcend borders and languages, touching hearts and minds around the world. In truth, they celebrate the essence of humanity: the love, perseverance, and indomitable spirit that the Olympics epitomize.
As we look forward to Paris 2024, brands have the chance to create campaigns that not only promote their products but also contribute to the collective memory of this grand event.
And that means so much more than simply selling. It’s bigger than that.
It’s a chance to do some real storytelling.